Killjoy Quotes

• God is not a killjoy; he just opposes what kills joy.

  John Piper

  Joy

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• Let’s take this figure of the feminist killjoy seriously. Does the feminist kill other people’s joy by pointing out moments of sexism? Or does she expose the bad feelings that get hidden, displaced, or negated under public signs of joy? Does bad feeling enter the room when somebody expresses anger about things, or could anger be the moment when the bad feelings that circulate through objects get brought to the surface in a certain way?

  Sara Ahmed

  People, Feminist, Joy

  Sara Ahmed (2010). “The Promise of Happiness”, p.65, Duke University Press

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• Would you destroy Something perfect in order to make it beautiful?

  Gerard Way

  Music, Beautiful, Song

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• The saints are never the kind of killjoy spinster aunts who go in for faultfinding and lack all sense of humor.

  Hans Urs von Balthasar

  Aunt, Saint, Sense Of Humor

  Hans Urs von Balthasar (2007). “The Office of Peter and the Structure of the Church, 2nd Edition”, p.184, Ignatius Press

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• So many people treat you like you're a kid so you might as well act like one and throw your television out of the hotel window.

  Gerard Way

  Kids, People, Television

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• Not just self-restraint, that old killjoy, but communal restraint.

  Wendell Berry

  Self, Restraint, Self Restraint

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• Do not listen to the killjoys who tell you never to eat oysters in months that do not contain the letter R: May, June, July, August, Octoba. You know.

  John Hodgman

  August, Oysters, June

  "Humorist John Hodgman Plays 'Not My Job'". "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" with Peter Sagal, www.npr.org. February 14, 2009.

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• I'm always disappointed when I see the word 'Puritan' tossed around as shorthand for a bunch of generic, boring, stupid, judgmental killjoys. Because to me, they are very specific, fascinating, sometimes brilliant, judgmental killjoys who rarely agreed on anything except that Catholics are going to Hell.

  Sarah Vowell

  Stupid, Catholic, Brilliant

  Sarah Vowell (2008). “The Wordy Shipmates”, p.22, Penguin

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• Hot off the presses, today’s headlines: The love of your life does not approve of my wanton flapper ways,” Evie said in a voice of affected mystery. “Really, Mabesie. You might want to reconsider—he is a bit of a killjoy.

  Libba Bray

  Voice, Hot, Doe

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• But the saints are never the kind of killjoy spinster aunts who go in for faultfinding and lack all sense of humor. (Nor should the Karl Barth who so loved and understood Mozart be regarded as such.)For humor is a mysterious but unmistakable charism inseparable from Catholic faith, and neither the "progressives" nor the "integralists" seem to possess it - the latter even less than the former.

  Hans Urs von Balthasar

  Aunt, Catholic, Saint

  Hans Urs von Balthasar (2007). “The Office of Peter and the Structure of the Church, 2nd Edition”, p.184, Ignatius Press

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• When the last Puritan has disappeared from the earth, the man of science will take his place as a killjoy, and we shall be given the same old advice but for different reasons.

  Robert Staughton Lynd

  Men, Advice, Earth

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• America was founded by puritans and like it or not the anti-pleasure dogma of those buckled-shoed killjoys still pervades our collective unconscious like an I-max shot of Dennis Franz's naked hairy cop ass. Hence, anything enjoyable is automatically forbidden and bad and in our panic to avoid it at all cost we become obsessed with it... like dressing up in a pink teddy and a pair of ugboots and repeatedly screaming the word 'VERBOTEN!' into a conk shell balanced on the back on a miniature pony... Oh, I see.. That would just be me.

  Dennis Miller

  America, Collective Unconscious, Dressing Up

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