Today, we are attempting to capture a refreshing human angle on history. with a funny flow and tone that fits the following feature.
The Lighter Side of Newsmakers: Great Minds Liked to Laugh Out Loud
Humor helps us navigate the present, but it also has a way of transcending time. While history often remembers its figures for their grand achievements, many of them possessed a sharp wit and a knack for amusement—even in the gravest of circumstances.
We tend to imagine kings, queens, inventors, and philosophers as stoic, serious people, pillars of intellect and discipline. Yet behind the portraits and the polished biographies, they laughed, joked, and even played pranks. Their humor was sometimes clever, sometimes irreverent, but always deeply human.
These moments of levity remind us that history’s icons were not just symbols of greatness; they were people, with quirks and a sense of fun that offer an unexpected glimpse into their character and their times. So, let’s set aside the textbook version of history and step into the limelight of newsmakers, with a different and deeper relatable side of their past.
Albert Einstein: The Playful Genius
A mischievous sense of humor matched Einstein’s brilliance. When asked for his telephone number one day, he replied, “I don’t know it — why should I memorize something I can easily look up in a book?”
He loved deflating pretension, even his own. Once, when a student asked him why he looked so scruffy, Einstein quipped, “If I wore two coats, I would just have to take care of two coats.”
And of course, there’s that famous photograph of him sticking out his tongue — not a rebellious outburst, but his playful reaction to paparazzi chasing him on his birthday.
Queen Victoria: Not Always So Grim
The famously stoic monarch actually enjoyed jokes—especially at the expense of her stiff court. One evening, her Scottish servant John Brown tripped and swore loudly in her presence. The court gasped. Victoria, however, just laughed and said, “Never mind, John. It was my fault for getting in your way.”
Her private letters even reveal a subtle wit: after one diplomatic dinner, she described a pompous duke as “a man so full of himself, one fears he may burst before dessert.”
Leonardo da Vinci: The Original Prankster
Beyond painting masterpieces, Leonardo loved to play tricks. He once placed fake lizard wings and scales on a real lizard, convincing visitors it was a baby dragon. They fled in terror, and Leonardo reportedly “laughed until tears fell.”
He also delighted in writing his notes backward (mirror writing), baffling anyone who tried to read them — a kind of inside joke centuries ahead of its time.
Napoleon Bonaparte: The Short Joke Reversal
Napoleon wasn’t actually as short as legend claims, but he knew the rumors — and he turned them into humor. Once, when a much taller officer mocked his stature, Napoleon said coolly, “You are merely taller, not greater.”
Another time, after losing his hat in a gust of wind, he told his men, “Even the wind knows to bow before me.”
Socrates: The Philosopher of Wit
Socrates’s sharp tongue was nearly as famous as his wisdom. When his famously ill-tempered wife Xanthippe poured water on his head after a quarrel, he calmly remarked, “After thunder comes rain.”
His students adored how he used humor to reveal truth — not just through logic, but through laughter.
Royal Humor: Crowns, and Courts
Catherine the Great
Catherine ruled an empire, but she also ruled with irony. When criticized for her love of French art and literature, she quipped, “A great wind of civilization must come from somewhere — better France than Siberia.”
She also had a sharp sense for satire, often writing witty plays to mock corrupt courtiers (anonymously, of course).
Henry VIII
Not known for humility, Henry VIII once told a court musician who played poorly,“If I had to endure such music again, I’d take holy orders.”
The musician replied, “If I had to play again, I’d join you.”
Henry reportedly laughed — and, miraculously, did not order his execution.
Scientific Wit: Minds That Sparked and Sparkled
Isaac Newton
Newton’s humor was as dry as his calculus. Once, when asked how he discovered the law of gravity, he deadpanned, “By thinking about it all the time.”
And when someone complained that his explanations were too difficult, Newton replied,
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
(Some historians think that was a sarcastic jab at a rival scientist who happened to be unusually short.)
Marie Curie
Curie had a gentle, understated wit. When reporters asked if she was frightened by the dangers of radiation, she smiled and said, “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood — though my notebooks may disagree.”
(Her notebooks are, in fact, still radioactive today.)
Writers & Thinkers: Masters of the Comeback
Mark Twain
Twain’s humor needs no introduction. Once, when told that reports of his death had been published, he wired back: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
And at a dinner party, when a pompous man said, “I never lie,” Twain replied,
“Then you never make interesting conversation.”
Oscar Wilde
The undisputed king of wit. When customs officials asked if he had anything to declare upon entering the U.S., Wilde said,“Only my genius.”
And on his deathbed, in a Paris hotel with garish wallpaper, he reportedly muttered,
“My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has got to go.”
Warriors with a Sense of Humor
Winston Churchill
Churchill’s wit was his secret weapon. When a woman told him, “If you were my husband, I’d poison your tea,” he replied, “Madam, if you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
And when criticized for drinking too much, he retorted,
“I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.”
Alexander the Great
Even in conquest, Alexander showed flashes of humor. After taming the mighty horse Bucephalus that no one else could ride, his father Philip exclaimed, “Seek a kingdom equal to yourself, my son, Macedonia is too small for you!”
Alexander grinned and replied, “Don’t worry, Father. I intend to.”
These glimpses of wit from kings and queens, philosophers and inventors, reveal something timeless: humor is not the opposite of intelligence or strength; it’s a reflection of it. The sharp remark, the playful prank, or the perfectly timed quip often showed courage, perspective, and self-awareness.
Albert Einstein’s playful irreverence, Catherine the Great’s ironic charm, Mark Twain’s verbal brilliance, and Winston Churchill’s razor-edged comebacks all remind us that humor doesn’t trivialize greatness — it humanizes it. Behind every crown, every discovery, and every masterpiece was someone who understood the power of a smile or a clever word.
In the end, history’s laughter echoes as clearly as its achievements. It reminds us that to endure, to create, and to lead, one must also know how to laugh, especially at oneself.
