--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly…" description: "\"The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly and reluctant laugh, but it takes a horse chestnut to fetch the gorgeous big horse-laugh.\" — Mark Twain" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b61/mark-twain-22_begets_the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly_2381397.png" --- # The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly and reluctant… ![“The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly and reluctant laugh, but it takes a horse chestnut to fetch the gorgeous big horse-laugh.” quote by Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b61/mark-twain-22_begets_the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly_2381397.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b61/mark-twain-22_begets_the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly_2381397.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b61/mark-twain-22_begets_the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly_2381397.png) > “The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly and reluctant laugh, but it takes a horse chestnut to fetch the gorgeous big horse-laugh.” [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Ordinary humor is timid; bold humor is powerful and memorable. **In simple terms:** Big laughs require daring, not just mild jokes. Key Takeaway Seek boldness in humor to make a lasting impact. Themes humor confidence expression Mood playful critical Type observational satirical When to use this quote - stand‑up comedy - public speaking - writing jokes - social gatherings Key Concepts comedy theory social dynamics Questions to Reflect On - When have you chosen a safe joke over a daring one? - How does risk affect audience reaction? A Different Perspective Bold humor can offend or alienate if not tempered. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Begets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begets/) [Bigs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bigs/) [Chestnut Fetch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chestnut-fetch-5899637/) [Chestnuts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chestnuts/) [Fetch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fetch/) [Gorgeous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gorgeous/) [Horse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horse/) [Horse Chestnut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horse-chestnut-5899636/) [Horse Laugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horse-laugh-827990/) [Laughing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laughing/) [Laughter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laughter/) [Ordinary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary/) [Ordinary Chestnut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary-chestnut-5899639/) [Reluctant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reluctant/) [Reluctant Laugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reluctant-laugh-5899638/) ## Related quotes > [One horse-laugh is worth ten-thousand syllogisms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-horse-laugh-is-worth-ten-thousand-syllogisms/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The horse-laugh indicates brutality of character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-kaspar-lavater/the-horse-laugh-indicates-brutality-of-character/) [Johann Kaspar Lavater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-kaspar-lavater/) > [One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-horse-laugh-is-worth-ten-thousand-syllogisms-it-is-not-only-more/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Though laughter is allowable, a horse-laugh is abominable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/though-laughter-is-allowable-a-horse-laugh-is-abominable/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [“There is no happiness like the pounding of so many horses into one. I imagine I hear the horses laugh. I think it every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-spragg/there-is-no-happiness-like-the-pounding-of-so-many-horses-into-one-i-2/) [Mark Spragg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-spragg/) > [And there is quite a different sort of conversation around a fire than there is in the shadow of a beech tree… Four dry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pietro-aretino/and-there-is-quite-a-different-sort-of-conversation-around-a-fire/) [Pietro Aretino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pietro-aretino/) > [Labor is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul, Nor beauty born out of its own despair, Nor blear-eyed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/labor-is-blossoming-or-dancing-where-the-body-is-not-bruised-to/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [No matter what else you came up against, if you could smile and laugh while a monkey did you with chestnuts in a dank…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/no-matter-what-else-you-came-up-against-if-you-could-smile-and-laugh/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [“It is a sunny fall afternoon and I’m engaged in one of my favorite pastimes—picking chestnuts. I’m playing alone under the spreading, leafy, protective…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eva-hoffman/it-is-a-sunny-fall-afternoon-and-i-m-engaged-in-one-of-my-favorite/) [Eva Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eva-hoffman/) > [Chestnuts are my favorite ingredient to use in the fall, especially for the holidays. I always find that they are meaty, hearty and have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-zakarian/chestnuts-are-my-favorite-ingredient-to-use-in-the-fall-especially/) [Geoffrey Zakarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-zakarian/) > [I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikos-kazantzakis/i-felt-once-more-how-simple-and-frugal-a-thing-is-happiness-a-glass/) [Nikos Kazantzakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikos-kazantzakis/) > [Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/consider-the-islands-bearing-the-names-of-all-the-saints-bristling/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [ I could not help reflecting that the bullet which had struck the chestnut \[horse\] had certainly passed within a foot of my head. So… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-could-not-help-reflecting-that-the-bullet-which-had-struck-the/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Chestnuts in stuffing tastes like someone chewed up a tree branch and then French-kissed it into your mouth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-handler/chestnuts-in-stuffing-tastes-like-someone-chewed-up-a-tree-branch-and/) [Daniel Handler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-handler/) > [Think you a little din can daunt mine ears? Have I not in my time heard lions roar? Have I not heard the sea,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/think-you-a-little-din-can-daunt-mine-ears-have-i-not-in-my-time/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) ## More by Mark Twain > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-creator-sat-upon-the-throne-thinking-behind-him-stretched-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-s-easy-to-quit-smoking-i-ve-done-it-hundreds-of-times/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It is never wrong to do the right thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-never-wrong-to-do-the-right-thing/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [There is nothing training can't cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-nothing-training-can-t-cannot-do-nothing-is-above-its-reach/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [The higher animals get their teeth without pain or inconvenience. Man gets his through months and months of cruel torture; he will never get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-higher-animals-get-their-teeth-without-pain-or-inconvenience-man/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/as-far-as-i-can-see-italy-for-fifteen-hundred-years-has-turned-all/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Begin with the determination to succeed and the work is half done already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/begin-with-the-determination-to-succeed-and-the-work-is-half-done/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Many public-school children seem to know only two dates—1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/many-public-school-children-seem-to-know-only-two-dates-1492-and-4th/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If we could imagine such a man, that is a man who could invent the fly and send him out on his mission and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-we-could-imagine-such-a-man-that-is-a-man-who-could-invent-the-fly/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/you-perceive-now-that-these-things-are-all-impossible-except-in-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/lord-save-us-all-from-a-hope-tree-that-has-lost-the-faculty-of/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Explore all 3,277 Mark Twain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More Begets quotes > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/somewhere-somebody-must-have-some-sense-men-must-see-that-force/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Neatness begets order; but from order to taste there is the same difference as from taste to genius, or from love to friendship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-kaspar-lavater/neatness-begets-order-but-from-order-to-taste-there-is-the-same/) [Johann Kaspar Lavater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-kaspar-lavater/) > [Cognitive and character skills work together as dynamic complements; they are inseparable. Skills beget skills. More motivated children learn more. Those who are more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-heckman/cognitive-and-character-skills-work-together-as-dynamic-complements/) [James Heckman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-heckman/) > [Suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counter-weapons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/suspicion-on-one-side-breeds-suspicion-on-the-other-and-new-weapons/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [Energy begets energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dolly-parton/energy-begets-energy/) [Dolly Parton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dolly-parton/) > [War destroys. War obliterates. War is ruination. And war begets more war. After thousands of years of experience proving this, and reams of literature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-simeone/war-destroys-war-obliterates-war-is-ruination-and-war-begets-more-war/) [Lisa Simeone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-simeone/) > [Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enoch/come-let-us-choose-us-wives-from-among-the-children-of-men-and-beget/) [Enoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enoch/) > [ The messiness \[in my books\] is nothing like an Atwood novel. For me, the deeper subjects are secrets versus intimacy, and how both beget… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edan-lepucki/the-messiness-in-my-books-is-nothing-like-an-atwood-novel-for-me-the/) [Edan Lepucki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edan-lepucki/) > [Success begets success. I've been offered a lot of movies now that '30 Rock' has been successful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alec-baldwin/success-begets-success-i-ve-been-offered-a-lot-of-movies-now-that-30/) [Alec Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alec-baldwin/) > [“Prayer begets peace.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/prayer-begets-peace/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“One evil begets another and another.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bronwen-griffiths/one-evil-begets-another-and-another/) [Bronwen Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bronwen-griffiths/) > [Sport begets tumultuous strife and wrath, and wrath begets fierce quarrels and war to the death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/sport-begets-tumultuous-strife-and-wrath-and-wrath-begets-fierce/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [They maintain that only a dictatorship - their dictatorship, of course - can create the will of the people, while our answer to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-bakunin/they-maintain-that-only-a-dictatorship-their-dictatorship-of-course/) [Mikhail Bakunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-bakunin/) > [Fortunately work begets work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-warburton/fortunately-work-begets-work/) [Patrick Warburton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-warburton/) > [Trust begets trust and untrust begets untrust. It's natural.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/munshi-premchand/trust-begets-trust-and-untrust-begets-untrust-it-s-natural/) [Munshi Premchand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/munshi-premchand/) [Browse all 257 Begets quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begets/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly and reluctant laugh, but it takes a horse chestnut to fetch the gorgeous big horse-laugh.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Twain" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly-and-reluctant-laugh-but-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Begets" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly-and-reluctant-laugh-but-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b61/mark-twain-22_begets_the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly_2381397.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b61/mark-twain-22_begets_the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly_2381397.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b61/mark-twain-22_begets_the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly_2381397.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly and reluctant laugh, but it takes a horse chestnut to fetch the…” — Mark Twain", "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": "Mark Twain", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The ordinary chestnut can beget a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly-and-reluctant-laugh-but-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-ordinary-chestnut-can-beget-a-sickly-and-reluctant-laugh-but-it/#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 } } ] } ```