The Court Jester Quotes & Sayings

The court jester had the right to say the most outrageous things to the king. Everything was permitted during carnival, even the songs that the Roman legionnaires would sing, calling Julius Caesar 'queen,' alluding, in a very transparent way, to his real, or presumed, homosexual escapades. — Umberto Eco

I was just a ham since about the age of five. If I was performing at Medieval Times or something, I'd be the court jester. That was always my defense mechanism. I was never all that funny; I was just obnoxious and loud. — Emma Stone

When the king gets depressed, he doesn't call for his wife. He doesn't call for the cook. He calls for the court jester. — Richard Simmons

First of all I express sincerity. There's also that sense of humor, by which people sometimes learn to laugh about themselves. I mean, the situation is so serious that the people could go crazy because of it. They need to smile and realize how ridiculous everything is. A race without a sense of humor is in bad shape. A race needs clowns. In earlier days people knew that. Kings always had a court jester around. In that way he was always reminded how ridiculous things are. I believe that nations too should have jesters, in the congress, near the president, everywhere ... You could call me the jester of the Creator. The whole world, all the disease and misery, it's all ridiculous. — Sun Ra

He was the class clown, the court jester, because he'd learn early that if you cracked jokes and pretended you weren't scared, you usually didn't get beat up. Even the baddest gangster kids would tolerate you, keep you around for laughs. Plus, humor was a good way to hide the pain — Rick Riordan

Satire must always accompany any free society. It is an absolute necessity. Even in the most repressive medieval kingdoms, they understood the need for the court jester, the one soul allowed to tell the truth through laughter, — Joe Randazzo

The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! — Danny Kaye

This traffic-court jester did more than tell jokes; he plucked out your subconscious and beat you silly with it, not until you were unrecognizable, but until you were recognizable. — Paul Beatty

Because of your arrogance you have become nothing but a puppet, a court jester who believes that he has no choice other than what you remembered you could do a long time ago. Your only reason for existence now is to keep men in fear of what we see as Demons. They are the ones who control what may happen to them if they choose to take, what we are led to believe is the wrong path. The trail leads us away from his protection.
You are arrogant and because of your vanity, you have become blinded to the truth. Do you not know that you cannot take a soul from a man whose future has already been set? I also know this is someone you cannot overrule have the power to overrule? Even if you tried to take me from here, your power would be overruled. You are the tool of the carpenter, not the carpenter. — Peter Fryer

My father was a small claims court jester. — Steven Wright

I like movies in particular, on video or T.V. I have lots of old favorites, like Danny Kaye in 'The Court Jester' or 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' or James Stewart in 'Winchester '73.' But I also like a lot of modern films. — Garth Nix

I'm a real paradox. Because I'm a very serious person, and I take my work very seriously. But I wrap it up in a court jester and a clown and make people laugh and make them feel good about themselves. — Richard Simmons

JESTER, n. An officer attached to the king's household to amuse the court by ludicrous actions and utterances ... the king's own conduct and decrees [being] sufficiently ridiculous for the amusement not only of his court but of all mankind. — Ambrose Bierce

It is unpardonable conceit not to laugh at your own jokes. Joking is undignified; that is why it is so good for one's soul. Do not fancy you can be a detached wit and avoid being a buffoon; you cannot. If you are the Court Jester you must be the Court Fool. — Gilbert K. Chesterton

ESPN takes itself very seriously, but for some reason, I'm allowed to be the court jester. — Frank Caliendo

It's been important to cultures throughout history with the court jester and the witch doctor and the shaman - all preach the same thing. — RuPaul

People need the court jester, so I keep that smile on and keep going out there to do what I do. — Richard Simmons

The artist is still a little like the old court jester. He's supposed to speak his vicious paradoxes with some sense in them, but he isn't part of whatever the fabric is that makes a nation. — William Faulkner

Have you brought the moon to me?" she asked. "Not yet," said the Court Jester, "but I will get it for you right away. How big do you think it is?" "It is just a little smaller than my thumbnail," she said, "for when I hold my thumbnail up at the moon, it just covers it." "And how far away is it? asked the Court Jester. "It is not as high as the big tree outside my window," said the Princess, "for sometimes it gets caught in the top branches." It will be very easy to get the moon for you," said the Court Jester. "I will climb the tree tonight when it gets caught in the top branches and bring it to you." The he thought of something else. "What is the moon make of, Princess?" he asked. "Oh," she said, "it's made of gold, of course, silly. — James Thurber

God, O God, where art thou? Thou art as distant to me as the lady combing rice in the Yunnan Province of China or a piece of floating space debris circling Pegasi. In this feeling-dead world of post traumatic stress, skepticism is king, queen, and court jester. — Chila Woychik

I'm the out-of-court jester who won't settle, I up the vigilante, I'm a law unto myself but break it anyway! I made a forced landing on the Moebius Strip and now I want to know, which side are you on? — Bob Black

I do consider myself a clown and a court jester, and I do love to make people laugh, whether they're laughing with me or at me. — Richard Simmons

In high school, I could get beaten up all the time, or I could be something better. I became the court jester. — Richard Simmons

A lot of people think that fame is the Band-Aid that cures their ills. I'm no kid, and I knew long before I got famous that wasn't the deal. I'm the court jester, not the queen. — Sharon Stone

An unemployed court jester is nobody's fool. — Kevin Hart

The advertiser is the overrewarded court jester and court pander at the democratic court. — Joseph Wood Krutch

My way is the sensitive, emotional way, because that's who I am. I try to be the clown and court jester and make people laugh. At the same time, you have people in the hospital who have had gastric bypass or lap-band surgery, and they still have to work out. If you don't work out and eat healthy, you'll look like a melted candle. — Richard Simmons