If anything is spoken in jest, it is not fair to turn it to
earnest.
[Lat., Si quid read more

If anything is spoken in jest, it is not fair to turn it to
earnest.
[Lat., Si quid dictum est per jocum,
Non aequum est id te serio praevortier.]

Less at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest
Thy person share, and the conceit advance,
read more

Less at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest
Thy person share, and the conceit advance,
Make not thy sport abuses: for the fly
That feeds on dung is colored thereby.

A joke's a very serious thing.

A joke's a very serious thing.

No time to break jests when the heartstrings are about to be
broken.

No time to break jests when the heartstrings are about to be
broken.

Jesters do oft prove prophets.

Jesters do oft prove prophets.

Of all the griefs that harass the distress'd,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest;
Fate read more

Of all the griefs that harass the distress'd,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest;
Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when a blockhead's insult points the dart.

He that will lose his friend for a jest, deserves to die a beggar
by the bargain.

He that will lose his friend for a jest, deserves to die a beggar
by the bargain.

A jester, a bad character.
[Fr., Diseur de bon mots, mauvais caractere.]

A jester, a bad character.
[Fr., Diseur de bon mots, mauvais caractere.]

Jest not with the two-edged sword of God's word.

Jest not with the two-edged sword of God's word.