" In Germany, as in parts of Yorkshire, laughing—at least among people with pretensions to rank—was regarded as a form of weakness. Goethe, whose own laughter was seldom observed, thought a lady might laugh where a gentleman should keep a straight face. Frederick the Great might laugh with a Frenchman, such as Voltaire, but “would not so condescend” with his compatriots. "

― Paul Johnson , Humorists: From Hogarth to Noel Coward