--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He did not joke, as the newspapers dared…" description: "\"“He did not joke, as the newspapers dared report, for sarcasm is bitter and conceals ferments of despair.”\" — Jean Genet" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/jean-genet-3865_quote_he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared_2042615.jpg" --- # He did not joke, as the newspapers dared report, for… ![“He did not joke, as the newspapers dared report, for sarcasm is bitter and conceals ferments of despair.” quote by Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/jean-genet-3865_quote_he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared_2042615.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/jean-genet-3865_quote_he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared_2042615.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/jean-genet-3865_quote_he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared_2042615.jpg) > ““He did not joke, as the newspapers dared report, for sarcasm is bitter and conceals ferments of despair.”” [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Sarcasm hides deep despair, making jokes a bitter mask for suffering. **In simple terms:** Sarcasm masks pain. Key Takeaway Recognize humor as a shield, not a solution. Themes pain masking despair Mood somber analytical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - therapy sessions - creative writing - conflict resolution - friendship dialogues Key Concepts existentialism literary analysis Questions to Reflect On - When does sarcasm help you cope? - Can you express pain without humor? A Different Perspective Humor can also be a coping mechanism, not just a mask. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Sarcasm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sarcasm/) ## Related quotes > [If one loves to hear 'Praises' then one should be able to adapt with Sarcasm, though being bitter, sarcasm has a path which leads…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nidhi-saini/if-one-loves-to-hear-praises-then-one-should-be-able-to-adapt-with/) [Nidhi Saini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nidhi-saini/) > [People went out there and they wrote articles and went on television shows saying that I am an operative that the CIA who used…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bassem-youssef/people-went-out-there-and-they-wrote-articles-and-went-on-television/) [Bassem Youssef](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bassem-youssef/) > [“As could the sarcasm in her voice. "yes, she's bleeding to death Lu upstairs, but i thought I'd avoid telling you right away, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/as-could-the-sarcasm-in-her-voice-yes-she-s-bleeding-to-death-lu/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [“You mean you don't want to come in and hold my hand while I piss?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nenia-campbell/you-mean-you-don-t-want-to-come-in-and-hold-my-hand-while-i-piss/) [Nenia Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nenia-campbell/) > [“If by ‘foe’ you mean a brutal killer, then I suppose I’d fall into the ‘friend’ category,” I replied cynically. “Although in your case,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-a-george/if-by-foe-you-mean-a-brutal-killer-then-i-suppose-i-d-fall-into-the/) [M.A. George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-a-george/) > [You know, your sarcasm isn’t appreciated right now. I’ve been drugged, beaten, nearly raped, saved, drugged again, hijacked, and now threatened by you. Tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/you-know-your-sarcasm-isn-t-appreciated-right-now-i-ve-been-drugged/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [“... a man doesn't like to have his ego popped, especially when he prides himself on his sagacity, and then to be proved wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-a-bucchianeri/a-man-doesn-t-like-to-have-his-ego-popped-especially-when-he-prides/) [E.A. Bucchianeri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-a-bucchianeri/) > [When someone is mad and asks you Do I look stupid? Don't answer them just stare curiously at them](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/green-monk/when-someone-is-mad-and-asks-you-do-i-look-stupid-don-t-answer-them/) [Green Monk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/green-monk/) > [Life is a luck coin, once you're thrown into the pond..only you can make your worth the most by making it to the people's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zacomh/life-is-a-luck-coin-once-you-re-thrown-into-the-pond-only-you-can/) Zacomh > [“I used to be a mddle-of-the-road kid, but now with my freaky looks I'm definately an outsider. Hooray.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-kuhlman/i-used-to-be-a-mddle-of-the-road-kid-but-now-with-my-freaky-looks-i-m/) [Evan Kuhlman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-kuhlman/) > [“Some women walk towards a better future. Others have chauffeurs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ljupka-cvetanova/some-women-walk-towards-a-better-future-others-have-chauffeurs/) [Ljupka Cvetanova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ljupka-cvetanova/) > [Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wright/depression-is-merely-anger-without-enthusiasm/) [Steven Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wright/) > [“What if," replied Inspector Fry in the same maddeningly curteous tone, "we were all to construct daisy chains and drape them so as to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndsay-faye/what-if-replied-inspector-fry-in-the-same-maddeningly-curteous-tone/) [Lyndsay Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndsay-faye/) > [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/) [Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/) > [“I bet she thought she was getting into a fight with a vanilla wafer on roller skates but little did she know she was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-portes/i-bet-she-thought-she-was-getting-into-a-fight-with-a-vanilla-wafer/) [Andrea Portes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-portes/) ## More by Jean Genet > [I'm homosexual. How and why are idle questions. It's a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-m-homosexual-how-and-why-are-idle-questions-it-s-a-little-like/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Worse than not realizing the dreams of your youth, would be to have been young and never dreamed at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/worse-than-not-realizing-the-dreams-of-your-youth-would-be-to-have/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [The most reasonable man always manages, when he pulls the trigger, to become a dispenser of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/the-most-reasonable-man-always-manages-when-he-pulls-the-trigger-to/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [I could not take lightly the idea that people made love without me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-could-not-take-lightly-the-idea-that-people-made-love-without-me/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Repudiating the virtues of your world, criminals hopelessly agree to organize a forbidden universe. They agree to live in it. The air there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/repudiating-the-virtues-of-your-world-criminals-hopelessly-agree-to/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Perhaps all music, even the newest, is not so much something discovered as something that re-emerges from where it lay buried in the memory,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/perhaps-all-music-even-the-newest-is-not-so-much-something-discovered/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Love makes use of the worst traps. The least noble. The rarest. It exploits coincidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/love-makes-use-of-the-worst-traps-the-least-noble-the-rarest-it/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“They made comments about the women's legs, but, as they were not witty, their remarks had no finesse. Since their emotion was not torn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/they-made-comments-about-the-women-s-legs-but-as-they-were-not-witty/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“Thereafter, he ennobled shame. He bore it in my presence like a burden, like a tiger clinging to his shoulders, the threat of which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/thereafter-he-ennobled-shame-he-bore-it-in-my-presence-like-a-burden/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [I decided to be what crime made of me,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-decided-to-be-what-crime-made-of-me/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Prison, dungeons, blessed places where evil is impossible because they are the crossroads of all the evil in the world. One cannot commit evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/prison-dungeons-blessed-places-where-evil-is-impossible-because-they/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [A great wind swept over the ghetto, carrying away shame, invisibility and four centuries of humiliation. But when the wind dropped people saw it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/a-great-wind-swept-over-the-ghetto-carrying-away-shame-invisibility/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [In reviewing my life, in tracing its course, I fill my cell with the pleasure of being what for want of a trifle I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/in-reviewing-my-life-in-tracing-its-course-i-fill-my-cell-with-the/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“The rims of his eyelids were burning. A blow received straightens a man up and makes the body move forward, to return that blow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/the-rims-of-his-eyelids-were-burning-a-blow-received-straightens-a/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“My love is always sad.”' “That's right. As soon as I kiss you, you get sad. I've noticed it.” “Does it bother you?” “No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/my-love-is-always-sad-that-s-right-as-soon-as-i-kiss-you-you-get-sad/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) [Explore all 115 Jean Genet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) ## More Sarcasm quotes > [“I bet she thought she was getting into a fight with a vanilla wafer on roller skates but little did she know she was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-portes/i-bet-she-thought-she-was-getting-into-a-fight-with-a-vanilla-wafer/) [Andrea Portes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-portes/) > [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/) [Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/) > [“What if," replied Inspector Fry in the same maddeningly curteous tone, "we were all to construct daisy chains and drape them so as to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndsay-faye/what-if-replied-inspector-fry-in-the-same-maddeningly-curteous-tone/) [Lyndsay Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndsay-faye/) > [Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wright/depression-is-merely-anger-without-enthusiasm/) [Steven Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wright/) > [“Some women walk towards a better future. Others have chauffeurs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ljupka-cvetanova/some-women-walk-towards-a-better-future-others-have-chauffeurs/) [Ljupka Cvetanova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ljupka-cvetanova/) > [“I used to be a mddle-of-the-road kid, but now with my freaky looks I'm definately an outsider. Hooray.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-kuhlman/i-used-to-be-a-mddle-of-the-road-kid-but-now-with-my-freaky-looks-i-m/) [Evan Kuhlman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-kuhlman/) > [Life is a luck coin, once you're thrown into the pond..only you can make your worth the most by making it to the people's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zacomh/life-is-a-luck-coin-once-you-re-thrown-into-the-pond-only-you-can/) Zacomh > [When someone is mad and asks you Do I look stupid? Don't answer them just stare curiously at them](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/green-monk/when-someone-is-mad-and-asks-you-do-i-look-stupid-don-t-answer-them/) [Green Monk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/green-monk/) > [“... a man doesn't like to have his ego popped, especially when he prides himself on his sagacity, and then to be proved wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-a-bucchianeri/a-man-doesn-t-like-to-have-his-ego-popped-especially-when-he-prides/) [E.A. Bucchianeri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-a-bucchianeri/) > [You know, your sarcasm isn’t appreciated right now. I’ve been drugged, beaten, nearly raped, saved, drugged again, hijacked, and now threatened by you. Tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/you-know-your-sarcasm-isn-t-appreciated-right-now-i-ve-been-drugged/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [“If by ‘foe’ you mean a brutal killer, then I suppose I’d fall into the ‘friend’ category,” I replied cynically. “Although in your case,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-a-george/if-by-foe-you-mean-a-brutal-killer-then-i-suppose-i-d-fall-into-the/) [M.A. George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-a-george/) > [“You mean you don't want to come in and hold my hand while I piss?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nenia-campbell/you-mean-you-don-t-want-to-come-in-and-hold-my-hand-while-i-piss/) [Nenia Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nenia-campbell/) > [“As could the sarcasm in her voice. "yes, she's bleeding to death Lu upstairs, but i thought I'd avoid telling you right away, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/as-could-the-sarcasm-in-her-voice-yes-she-s-bleeding-to-death-lu/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [People went out there and they wrote articles and went on television shows saying that I am an operative that the CIA who used…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bassem-youssef/people-went-out-there-and-they-wrote-articles-and-went-on-television/) [Bassem Youssef](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bassem-youssef/) > [My two souls, the socially conscious one and the lighthearted one, are always in my movies because they find a perfect habitat in my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lina-wertmuller/my-two-souls-the-socially-conscious-one-and-the-lighthearted-one-are/) [Lina Wertmuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lina-wertmuller/) [Browse all 1,265 Sarcasm quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sarcasm/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He did not joke, as the newspapers dared report, for sarcasm is bitter and conceals ferments of despair.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Genet" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared-report-for-sarcasm-is-bitter/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Sarcasm" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared-report-for-sarcasm-is-bitter/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/jean-genet-3865_quote_he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared_2042615.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/jean-genet-3865_quote_he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared_2042615.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/jean-genet-3865_quote_he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared_2042615.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He did not joke, as the newspapers dared report, for sarcasm is bitter and conceals ferments of despair.” — Jean Genet", "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": "Jean Genet", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“He did not joke, as the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared-report-for-sarcasm-is-bitter/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/he-did-not-joke-as-the-newspapers-dared-report-for-sarcasm-is-bitter/#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 } } ] } ```