A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

laugh see also JOVE but laughs at lovers’ perjury; LOVE laughs at locksmiths.
He LAUGHS best who laughs last
See also the two adjacent proverbs. The ‘French proverb’ referred to in quot. 1822 is rira bien qui rira le dernier.
□c 1607 Christmas Prince (1923) 109 Hee laugheth best that laugheth to the end. 1715 VANBRUGH Country House II. V. Does she play her jests upon me too!—but mum, he laughs best that laughs last. 1822 SCOTT Peveril IV. iii. Your Grace knows the French proverb, ‘He laughs best who laughs last.’ 1980 J. LINSSEN Yellow Pages lii. The mark of greatness is survival. He laughs best who laughs last. 1996 Washington Post 15 Jan. C2 This purchase.. was wildly out of character and the source of endless amusement to those who know me best. . . Well, in the immortal words of Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726): He laughs best who laughs last. "revenge; winners and losers
He who LAUGHS last, laughs longest
A modern development of the preceding proverb.
□1912 J. MASEFIELD Widow in Bye Street iv. 66 In this life he laughs longest who laughs last. 1943 J. LODWICK Running to Paradise xxx. He who laughs last laughs longest, and in another four days I was able to look at my mug in the mirror without wincing. 1951 M. DE LA ROCHE Renny’s Daughter ix. ‘We’ll see. He who laughs last, laughs . . ‘ So worked up was Eugene Clapperton that he could not recall the last word of the proverb. ■ revenge; winners and losers
LAUGHTER is the best medicine
The idea of the beneficial effects of laughter upon the health is an ancient one; e.g. PROVERBS xvii. 22 (AV) A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Older English expressions of the concept include laugh and be fat (attested from 1596) and laugh and be well (1737); hence ‘Laughter, the Best Medicine’, the title of a long- running jokes feature in the Reader’s Digest. Cf. the best DOCTORS are Dr Diet, Dr Quiet, and Dr Merryman.
□1992 MIEDER Diet. American Proverbs 362 Laughter is the best medicine. 2002 Washington Post 21 Jan. C10 Who could argue with the sage advice that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, . . or laughter is the best medicine? "doctors; health; merriment