The perception of the comic is a tie of sympathy with other men, a pledge of sanity, and a protection from those perverse tendencies and gloomy insanities in which fine intellects sometimes lose themselves. A rogue alive to the ludicrous is still convertible. If that sense is lost, his fellow-men can do little for him.
1876 Letters and Social Aims,'The Comic'.
![The perception of the comic is a tie of sympathy with other men, a pledge of sanity, and a protection from those perverse tendencies and gloomy insanities in which fine intellects sometimes lose themselves. A rogue](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-perception-of-the-comic-is-a-tie-of-sympathy-with-other-men-a-pledge-of-sanity-and-a-protection.jpg)