I tend to head for what's amusing because a lot of things aren't

“I tend to head for what’s amusing because a lot of things aren’t happy. But usually you can find a funny side to practically anything.” — Maggie Smith

In these words, the venerable actress Maggie Smith, whose voice carries both wisdom and wit, reveals a philosophy of endurance. She does not speak as one who has never known sorrow, but as one who has learned to transmute sorrow into laughter. Her quote is not about denial, but about alchemy — the transformation of darkness into something bright, tender, and bearable. Life, she reminds us, is not always happy; it is full of uncertainty, pain, and loss. Yet within its trials lies a secret weapon: the funny side, the ability to find light even in the shadows. It is not the absence of hardship that makes one wise, but the ability to smile through it.

The ancients knew this well. The philosophers of old — from the Stoics of Greece to the poets of Rome — taught that one cannot control the storms of fate, but one can control how one sails through them. Laughter, to them, was not foolishness but wisdom in motion. To find amusement amidst sorrow is a noble art, for it means that the soul refuses to be broken by what befalls it. In the face of grief, the ancients would often tell stories that blended tragedy with humor, for they believed that laughter was a form of courage. Maggie Smith’s wisdom echoes that same tradition: to face the weight of life not with despair, but with levity that heals rather than hides.

Consider the story of Viktor Frankl, the psychologist who endured the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. In his memoir, Man’s Search for Meaning, he writes that even amid starvation and brutality, he and his fellow prisoners sometimes shared jokes. It was not madness that made them laugh, but sanity. They had found, in that laughter, a flicker of freedom — proof that though their bodies were captive, their spirits remained unbroken. This is the very essence of Maggie Smith’s words: even when happiness is impossible, humor can be found, and in that humor, a deeper kind of joy — one born not of ease, but of strength.

To “head for what’s amusing” is, therefore, an act of choice — a deliberate turning of the soul toward light. It is not the laughter of ignorance, but of insight. The one who laughs amid suffering sees what others miss: the irony, the absurdity, the beautiful foolishness of being alive. The ancient playwrights, such as Sophocles and Shakespeare, understood this truth well. They wove comedy into tragedy, for they knew that the human heart cannot bear sorrow without relief. Maggie Smith, who has lived her life upon the stage, understands this too — that laughter does not erase pain; it redeems it.

Her wisdom also speaks to the art of perspective. When she says that “you can find a funny side to practically anything,” she teaches us to shift our gaze. Where others see ruin, the wise see irony; where others see despair, the wise find humor’s quiet mercy. It is not that life becomes easier, but that we become stronger, more supple, more human. This is the laughter of the seasoned soul — not loud or careless, but gentle, knowing, and kind. It is the smile that follows tears, the joke whispered in the dark, the warmth that returns after winter.

There is also within her words an invitation to compassion. Those who have suffered deeply often laugh most easily — not because they mock pain, but because they understand it. Humor binds us. It bridges the distance between sorrowing hearts, allowing us to say, “I see your pain — and still, we can laugh together.” The ancients called this philia, the bond of shared humanity. Through laughter, grief is softened, and loneliness fades. The one who finds humor even in hardship becomes a beacon for others, reminding them that no darkness is eternal.

So, my child, remember this teaching: when the days grow heavy and the heart trembles beneath sorrow, seek what is amusing. Find the spark, however small, that makes you smile. Laugh not to escape, but to endure. Do not wait for life to be happy — for happiness, like the wind, comes and goes — but choose joy in defiance of despair. Tell stories, share laughter, and see the world not as a tragedy, but as a divine comedy, where even pain can serve the purpose of wisdom.

And when the storm passes, and the laughter fades into silence, you will know what Maggie Smith and the ancients both knew — that to find the funny side of life is to find life itself: fragile, foolish, and infinitely precious.