He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.

When in doubt, be ridiculous.

There are some things so serious that you have to laugh at them.

There are things that are so serious that you can only joke about them.

Some people are only funny when they try to be serious.

What stops me from taking myself seriously, even though I am essentially a serious person, is that I find myself extremely ridiculous, not in the sense of the small-scale ridiculousness of slap-stick comedy, but rather in the sense of ridiculousness that seems intrinsic to human life and that manifests itself in the simplest actions and the most extraordinary gestures.

No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

This is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual in economics.

I'm making a serious point."
"Yes, and I am mocking your serious point to show how ludicrous it is.

To take seriously something so unserious means to lose all one's own seriousness

I think it's really tragic when people get serious about stuff. It's such an absurdity to take anything really seriously ... I make an honest attempt not to take anything seriously: I worked that attitude out about the time I was eighteen, I mean, what does it all mean when you get right down to it, what's the story here? Being alive is so weird.

When principles are so absurd and so destructive of human society, it may safely be averred, that the more sincere and the more disinterested they are, they only become the more ridiculous and the more odious.

The problem is that the people with the most ridiculous ideas are always the people who are most certain of them.

A joke's a very serious thing.