Life & Wisdom Quote by Frank Howard Clark

Clark’s line is a small act of rebellion against the cult of competence: if you can’t fix the mess, at least refuse to let it fix you. The phrasing is telling. “Next best thing” concedes hierarchy - solutions still win - but it also insists on a runner-up that isn’t mere consolation. Humor becomes a practical substitute, not a decorative flourish. That’s the intent: to defend laughter as a tool for living, not an escape hatch for people who won’t do the work.

The subtext cuts two ways. On one level, it’s permission-giving, especially in a culture that treats suffering as proof of seriousness. Clark implies that grimness is often vanity dressed as responsibility. On another level, the quote smuggles in a subtle ethics: humor is acceptable only after the attempt to solve. It’s not “laugh instead of acting,” it’s “laugh when action hits its limits.” That’s a crucial boundary line between comic resilience and denial.

Contextually, this sounds like mid-century American aphorism: concise, commonsense, slightly self-help without the branding. Writers of that era often trafficked in pocket-sized wisdom meant for newspapers, speeches, and daily calendars - places where a sentence has to earn its keep. The line works because it’s both modest and defiant: it admits you won’t always win, then hands you a way to keep your dignity anyway. Humor, here, is emotional triage - the art of staying intact long enough to try again.