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Full Idea
The passion of laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.
Gist of Idea
Laughter is a sudden glory in realising the infirmity of others, or our own formerly
Source
Thomas Hobbes (Human Nature [1640], Ch.IX.13)
Book Ref
'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.10
A Reaction
Laughter tends to involve something unusual. We don't just burst out with a glory of vanity whenever we meet some inferiority in another person.