Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around

The words of Red Skelton, “Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations,” rise from the heart of one who knew both sorrow and light. They are not idle words of mirth, but the hard-earned wisdom of a man who learned that laughter is the soul’s armor against despair. To “have a little laugh at life” is not to mock it, but to meet its storms with courage, to keep one’s spirit from bending beneath the weight of grief. For laughter, when born of understanding and gentleness, is a kind of defiance — a radiant rebellion against darkness.

In the ancient world, the philosophers of Greece spoke of two masks — Comedy and Tragedy, bound together as sisters of the same stage. One reveals sorrow, the other joy, yet each depends upon the other to give life its full meaning. Red Skelton’s credo echoes this timeless truth: that the heart must know sadness to recognize happiness, and must laugh not because life is easy, but because it is hard. The wise man laughs not in ignorance, but in triumph over pain. Laughter, then, becomes an act of spiritual endurance — the proof that the human heart, though wounded, still sings.

Consider the tale of Abraham Lincoln, who, burdened by the grief of war and personal loss, was known to tell humorous stories even in the darkest hours of the Civil War. Some mocked him for jesting when the nation bled, but he once said, “If I did not laugh, I should die.” His laughter was not frivolity — it was medicine for the soul, a means of keeping despair at bay while he bore the weight of a broken country. In his smile, there was both sadness and strength, for he understood what Red Skelton later put into simpler, gentler words: happiness is not found by avoiding sorrow, but by choosing light in its presence.

There is a quiet nobility in this way of living. To “look around for happiness instead of sadness” is to open one’s eyes even in the shadowed hours, to seek the small, tender moments that make life worth enduring — the sunrise after a sleepless night, the laughter of a child, the warmth of a hand held in grief. The world does not always offer joy freely, but the heart that searches for it, even amid ruin, becomes unconquerable. Laughter, in this sense, is not escape — it is a form of prayer, a declaration that hope yet lives.

Many souls, weary and beaten, forget this. They believe that solemnity is strength and that laughter diminishes dignity. But the ancients would disagree. The Stoics, those great masters of endurance, taught that one should meet hardship with serenity — and what is laughter if not serenity made audible? To laugh kindly, to smile through pain, is to say to fate itself, “You may test me, but you cannot break me.” There is heroism in humor, a quiet, radiant kind that asks no glory and conquers no lands, but saves the heart from withering.

From this teaching, let every listener draw a simple yet profound lesson: seek joy daily, even in the smallest things. Laugh not only when the world invites it, but when it denies it. When sorrow comes — as it always will — meet it with a grin, a story, a song. Let laughter be your lantern through the valley of shadows, for it does not banish the dark, but it helps you walk through it unafraid.

To live by Red Skelton’s credo is to live as the wise and the joyful have always lived — not untouched by grief, but undefeated by it. Let your heart be light, not from ignorance, but from courage. Laugh gently at your own follies, forgive the world its cruelties, and look always toward what glimmers. For laughter is not the denial of pain, but the triumph of the spirit over it — and in that triumph lies the true art of living.

So remember, children of tomorrow: when the storms of life gather, do not let your heart harden. Instead, lift your eyes, find one thing to smile about, and laugh softly to the heavens. In that laughter, you honor your own soul — and you, too, shall rise above unhappiness, as Red Skelton did, with light in your heart and grace upon your lips.