"To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of a gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative."

A man's suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the 'size' of human suffering is absolutely relative.

a man’s suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little.

The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living.

"Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the 'size' of human suffering is absolutely relative".

The whole art of living is to make use of the individuals through whom we suffer.

Among other things I think humor is a shield, a weapon, a survival kit... So here we are several billion of us, crowded into our global concentration camp for the duration. How are we to survive? Solemnity is not the answer, any more than witless and irresponsible frivolity is. I think our best chance lies in humor, which in this case means a wry acceptance of our predicament. We don't have to like it but we can at least recognize its ridiculous aspects, one of which is ourselves.

the art of happiness is also the art of suffering well.

(about humor) It's a survival technique, too. People who are in poverty, people who are in very difficult situations and in pain, have to develop humor or die of despair.

Laughter is Humanity's mechanism to escape suffering.

Humor is a tool to ease the harsh realities of life.

The art of living. Isn't that a funny expression?

My sense of humor developed because it helped me compensate for my pain. If I felt insignificant inside, which I did during my childhood, I learned if I can make someone laugh, it feels like they value me. And if they value me, then it means I’m significant. And if I’m significant because I just made them laugh, then I don’t feel the sense of insignificance that I’m relentlessly trying to escape from. I became addicted to making people laugh. It was my survival strategy. The good thing about that was it helped train me to become a black belt of comedy.

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.