--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are few things so disarming as one…" description: "\"“There are few things so disarming as one who laughs well at her own expense.”\" — Amor Towles" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/amor-towles-1249_disarming_there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one_3220090.png" --- # There are few things so disarming as one who laughs well… ![“There are few things so disarming as one who laughs well at her own expense.” quote by Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/amor-towles-1249_disarming_there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one_3220090.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/amor-towles-1249_disarming_there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one_3220090.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/amor-towles-1249_disarming_there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one_3220090.png) > ““There are few things so disarming as one who laughs well at her own expense.”” [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Highlights the charm of someone who can laugh at their own mistakes, showing humility and confidence. **In simple terms:** Laughing at yourself shows confidence and humility. Key Takeaway Embrace self‑deprecating humor. Themes humor humility self‑acceptance Mood lighthearted insightful Type observational inspirational When to use this quote - personal relationships - public speaking - team building Key Concepts psychology social interaction confidence building Questions to Reflect On - When is self‑humor appropriate? - How does it affect others' perception? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on self‑deprecation can undermine credibility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Laughter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laughter/) [Self deprecation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-deprecation/) ## Related quotes > [For better or worse, there are few things so disarming as one who laughs well at her own expense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/for-better-or-worse-there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one-who/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [Self-deprecation is not the answer to humility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viola-davis/self-deprecation-is-not-the-answer-to-humility/) [Viola Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viola-davis/) > [“In the secular trinity of Irish-American values, loyalty and humor are father and son. Self-deprecation is the spirit that works in mysterious ways ... ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-dezell/in-the-secular-trinity-of-irish-american-values-loyalty-and-humor-are/) Maureen Dezell > [First off, I don't do self-deprecation comedy based on being fat. I would always talk about it honestly. Secondly, I don't care how much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-garlin/first-off-i-don-t-do-self-deprecation-comedy-based-on-being-fat-i/) [Jeff Garlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-garlin/) > [Actually, when it comes to knocking the Canadian cultural scene, nobody outdoes Canadians, myself included. We are veritable masters of self-deprecation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mordecai-richler/actually-when-it-comes-to-knocking-the-canadian-cultural-scene-nobody/) [Mordecai Richler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mordecai-richler/) > [I'm very aware of self-deprecation being used as a glorification of certain behaviour and I try to avoid it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cmat/i-m-very-aware-of-self-deprecation-being-used-as-a-glorification-of/) [CMAT](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cmat/) > [“There is power born of humility . . . Humility, in business and in life, is a powerful asset and does not denote lowliness, unimportance, or self-deprecation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richie-norton/there-is-power-born-of-humility-humility-in-business-and-in-life-is-a/) [Richie Norton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richie-norton/) > [“I was a little cross.I ask pardon. If I do get up a little temper I have no sufficient time to keep it up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-was-a-little-cross-i-ask-pardon-if-i-do-get-up-a-little-temper-i/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [“Every time I move I squash something said Loathesome.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/every-time-i-move-i-squash-something-said-loathesome/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I think the biggest survival instinct that Midwesterners possess is self deprecation, it's almost a Buddha-like sense of humor in anything that is difficult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-pietz/i-think-the-biggest-survival-instinct-that-midwesterners-possess-is/) Amy Pietz > [People who overshare because they think it's endearing can be quite exhausting. Self-deprecation is fine if it's real but anything performative is annoying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matty-healy/people-who-overshare-because-they-think-it-s-endearing-can-be-quite/) [Matty Healy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matty-healy/) > [“I should have learned mindfulness, and it’s too late now because it’s no good learning it when you’re already in crisis: you have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marian-keyes/i-should-have-learned-mindfulness-and-it-s-too-late-now-because-it-s/) [Marian Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marian-keyes/) > [Adolescents swing from euphoric self-confidence and a kind of narcissistic strength in which they feel invulnerable and even immortal, to despair, self-emptiness, self-deprecation. At…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terri-e-apter/adolescents-swing-from-euphoric-self-confidence-and-a-kind-of/) [Terri E Apter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terri-e-apter/) > [The author I wish I was reading right now and always is Nora Ephron. I love the humor, the awareness, the sense of self-deprecation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garance-dore/the-author-i-wish-i-was-reading-right-now-and-always-is-nora-ephron-i/) [Garance Dore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garance-dore/) > [I think self-deprecation is such a disease, and I want to cure everybody of it and so that's my contribution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/i-think-self-deprecation-is-such-a-disease-and-i-want-to-cure/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) ## More by Amor Towles > [“To have even one year when you're presented with choices that can alter your circumstances, your character, your course- that's by the grace of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/to-have-even-one-year-when-you-re-presented-with-choices-that-can/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“Rather than sitting in orderly rows in a schoolhouse, wouldn't one be better served by working her way towards an actual horizon, so that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/rather-than-sitting-in-orderly-rows-in-a-schoolhouse-wouldn-t-one-be/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [That's how quickly New York City comes about - like a weather wane - or the head of a cobra. Time tells which.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/that-s-how-quickly-new-york-city-comes-about-like-a-weather-wane-or/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“Mostly, he said, I've been thinking about what I'm not going to do. When I think of the last few years, I've been hounded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/mostly-he-said-i-ve-been-thinking-about-what-i-m-not-going-to-do-when/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“In the doleful court behind my building a patchwork of windows was all that separated me from a hundred muted lives being led without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/in-the-doleful-court-behind-my-building-a-patchwork-of-windows-was/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“That is how time passes when one is left waiting unaccountably. The hours become interminable. The minutes relentless. And the seconds? Why, not only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/that-is-how-time-passes-when-one-is-left-waiting-unaccountably-the/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“Mishka would pine for Katerina the rest of his life! Never again would he walk Nevsky Prospekt, however they chose to rename it, without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/mishka-would-pine-for-katerina-the-rest-of-his-life-never-again-would/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [Every year, I would spend weeks at a time in the hotels of distant cities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/every-year-i-would-spend-weeks-at-a-time-in-the-hotels-of-distant/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“For eventually, we come to hold our dearest possessions more closely than we hold our friends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/for-eventually-we-come-to-hold-our-dearest-possessions-more-closely/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“As we age, we are bound to find comfort from the notion that it takes generations for a way of life to fade. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/as-we-age-we-are-bound-to-find-comfort-from-the-notion-that-it-takes/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“For it is the role of the parent to express his concerns and then take three steps back. Not one, mind you, not two,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/for-it-is-the-role-of-the-parent-to-express-his-concerns-and-then/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“But I've come to realie that however blue my circumstance,s if after finishing a chapter of a Dickens novel I feel a miss-my-stop-on-the-train sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/but-i-ve-come-to-realie-that-however-blue-my-circumstance-s-if-after/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [I make extensive outlines before I write a book. I usually know what will happen. I know the characters, and I know what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/i-make-extensive-outlines-before-i-write-a-book-i-usually-know-what/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“Sometimes,” Nina clarified, “everybody tells you something because they are everybody. But why should one listen to everybody? Did everybody write the Odyssey? Did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/sometimes-nina-clarified-everybody-tells-you-something-because-they/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“For it is a fact that a man can be profoundly out of step with his times. A man may have been born in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/for-it-is-a-fact-that-a-man-can-be-profoundly-out-of-step-with-his/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) [Explore all 266 Amor Towles quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) ## More Disarming quotes > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/what-country-can-preserve-its-liberties-if-its-rulers-are-not-warned/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/for-an-unarmed-man-may-be-attacked-with-greater-confidence-than-an/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [If revenge is sweet, why does it leave such a bitter taste? In disarming Peter, Christ disarmed ever knight. Turn the other cheek.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-elwell-hunt/if-revenge-is-sweet-why-does-it-leave-such-a-bitter-taste-in/) [Angela Elwell Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-elwell-hunt/) > [Let us look upon a crucified Christ, the remedy of all our miseries. His cross hath procured a crown, his passion hath expiated our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-charnock/let-us-look-upon-a-crucified-christ-the-remedy-of-all-our-miseries/) [Stephen Charnock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-charnock/) > [“To govern more securely some Princes have disarmed their subjects...but by disarming, you at once give offence, since you show your subjects that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/to-govern-more-securely-some-princes-have-disarmed-their-subjects-but/) [Niccolò Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Women can never forgive me; they hate me, they feel that I am disarming them. I show them without their coquetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-degas/women-can-never-forgive-me-they-hate-me-they-feel-that-i-am-disarming/) [Edgar Degas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-degas/) > [I've been very sensitive for a long time to the repeated pattern, during economic hard times or after a war, of the United States'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-ve-been-very-sensitive-for-a-long-time-to-the-repeated-pattern/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [We are not for disarming people. When you have an epidemic it's a public health issue, a safety issue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-brady/we-are-not-for-disarming-people-when-you-have-an-epidemic-it-s-a/) [Sarah Brady](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-brady/) > [The laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [The best way to begin disarming is to begin-and the United States is ready to conclude firm agreements in these areas and to consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/the-best-way-to-begin-disarming-is-to-begin-and-the-united-states-is/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [Pragmatism ... reflects with almost disarming candor the spirit of the prevailing business culture, the very same attitude of 'being practical' as counter to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-horkheimer/pragmatism-reflects-with-almost-disarming-candor-the-spirit-of-the/) [Max Horkheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-horkheimer/) > [Mornings are disarming you meet yourself frequently in original.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tasneem-hameed/mornings-are-disarming-you-meet-yourself-frequently-in-original/) [Tasneem Hameed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tasneem-hameed/) > [The time has come to end the deadly experiment of disarming peaceable, law-abiding citizens near schools.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-stockman/the-time-has-come-to-end-the-deadly-experiment-of-disarming-peaceable/) [Steve Stockman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-stockman/) Browse all 86 Disarming quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There are few things so disarming as one who laughs well at her own expense.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Amor Towles" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one-who-laughs-well-at-her-own/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Disarming" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one-who-laughs-well-at-her-own/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/amor-towles-1249_disarming_there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one_3220090.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/amor-towles-1249_disarming_there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one_3220090.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/amor-towles-1249_disarming_there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one_3220090.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There are few things so disarming as one who laughs well at her own expense.” — Amor Towles", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Amor Towles", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“There are few things so disarming...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one-who-laughs-well-at-her-own/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/there-are-few-things-so-disarming-as-one-who-laughs-well-at-her-own/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```