How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers) Cover
Podcast Mentions

How to Tell a Joke An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Timeless advice about how to use humor to win over any audience Can jokes win a hostile room, a hopeless argument, or even an election? You bet they can, according to Cicero, and he knew what he was talking about. One of Rome’s greatest politicians, speakers, and lawyers, Cicero was also reputedly...

Podcasts 1
Quotes 6
The Daily Stoic

An excerpt from this book, featuring Cicero and Quintilian's advice on humor, was used in this podcast episode. The podcast host recommends the book and its Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series.

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This one is from The Order Quintillion. Again, this edition is translated with commentary from Michael Fontaine.

— Episode: Quintilian on How to Tell a Joke

Episode: Quintilian on How to Tell a Joke

An excerpt from this book, featuring Cicero and Quintilian's advice on humor, was used in this podcast episode. The podcast host recommends the book and its Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series.

"

This one is from The Order Quintillion. Again, this edition is translated with commentary from Michael Fontaine.

If you haven't checked out the Princeton University Press's Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series, I do recommend it.

You can check out How to Tell a Joke, which has got selections from Cicero and Quintilian from Princeton University Press. I love the little hardcover editions.

Episode: Cicero on How to Tell a Joke

The speaker described this book, translated and with commentary by Michael Fontaine, as a modern translation of Cicero and Quintilian's advice on humor. It was praised for showing that the Stoics possessed a sense of humor and that Cicero was a master of his craft.

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One of my favorite Cicero quotes is, No man dances when he is sober unless he is a lunatic.

So this is a good book, I'm excited to bring you this quick excerpt. It's not a step by step guide on how to compose jokes really, but it's more of a guide to how humor can and should be used as a tool to help win an argument, to help make a case for something.

This is a great book, you can check out How to Tell a Joke. Anywhere books are sold, there's a great physical edition, they come in these perfectly sized hard covers which you can check out.

Note: The book recommendations on this page are discovered automatically from podcast transcripts, and may be incorrect or incomplete.