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Who really said it

Laughter is an instant vacation

Not originated by Milton Berle — an older, essentially anonymous saying Anonymous (popularized by Milton Berle) saying attested by 1968; first tied to Berle in 1977
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

Milton Berle is the name the line is pinned to, but it is not his coinage. Quote Investigator ↗ finds the idea already in print in 1968 — Eugene P. Bertin’s “It is instant vacation” in the Pennsylvania School Journal — and a compact newspaper form credited to Robert Zwickey in 1976, both before the earliest Berle ascription in 1977. QI concludes “anonymous may be the most accurate ascription”; Berle (and later Bob Hope) only helped popularize it.

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“Laughter is an instant vacation” Laughter is an instant vacation. —commonly credited to Milton Berle, but the saying predates him (in print by 1968) and Quote Investigator judges its origin anonymous.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

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In context

Evoking the world of Milton Berle — American comedian, "Mr. Television". Theme: "Laughter is an instant vacation". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Laughter is an instant vacation". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where the line actually comes from

Earliest idea
“It is instant vacation” — Eugene P. Bertin
First in
Pennsylvania School Journal, 1968
Compact form
1976 newspapers, credited to Robert Zwickey
Berle credit
first recorded 1977

Laughter is an instant vacation.

The modern compact wording. Its earliest ancestor is Eugene P. Bertin’s 1968 line that laughter “is instant vacation,” with a tightened newspaper form appearing in 1976 before any tie to Milton Berle.

Quote Investigator: full chronology of the saying

How we verified this

  • 1968: Eugene P. Bertin writes that laughter “is instant vacation” in the Pennsylvania School Journal, per Quote Investigator ↗.
  • 1976: a compact newspaper version is credited to Robert Zwickey; the first Milton Berle ascription appears in 1977, per Quote Investigator ↗.
  • Today the line is routinely sold as pure Berle, e.g. on Goodreads ↗, with no source given.
  • QI’s verdict: “anonymous may be the most accurate ascription” — Berle and Bob Hope popularized it rather than coined it (Quote Investigator ↗).

The exact modern wording has no identifiable single author: its earliest ancestor (Eugene P. Bertin, 1968) is a different phrasing, and Quote Investigator judges the saying essentially anonymous. With no fixed source work or author to anchor it, no copyright status can be honestly asserted.

Fact-check

How Milton Berle got the credit

A feel-good one-liner with no clear author drifted onto a famous funnyman. The paper trail shows the saying circulating before Berle’s name was ever attached.

Milton Berle popularizer, not originator

The first known tie to Berle is a 1977 optometry-journal column (“I agree with Milton Berle when he says…”), which is nearly a decade after the idea appears in print in 1968, per Quote Investigator ↗.

Bob Hope also just repeating it

Hope used the line in a 1985 UPI essay but explicitly disclaimed originality (“It’s been said…”), per Quote Investigator ↗.

Eugene P. Bertin weak evidence

Bertin’s 1968 Pennsylvania School Journal line is the earliest match, but QI cautions “the evidence is not strongly compelling,” per Quote Investigator ↗.

The honest answer is that no one owns this line: Quote Investigator ↗ concludes “anonymous may be the most accurate ascription.”

Context

Why this one stuck to Berle

Milton Berle was, by trade, a joke magnet — famous both for his encyclopedic memory of gags and for a reputation as a borrower of them. A short, warm, quotable line about laughter is exactly the kind of thing that gravitates toward a name like his once it is loose in the culture.

The result is a quote that feels authentically “Berle” while the documentary record shows it moving through school journals and newspaper columns first, picking up his name only afterward.

The line reached Berle after 1977 — the idea was already in print by 1968.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Happiness

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: Laughter Is an Instant Vacationquoteinvestigator.com

The authoritative chronology: 1968 Bertin, 1976 Zwickey, 1977 Berle, 1985 Hope; concludes the saying is essentially anonymous.
Milton Berleen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the comedian the line is popularly credited to.
Bob Hopeen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the entertainer who repeated the line (disclaiming authorship) in 1985.
Milton Berle quote pagegoodreads.com

Typical sourceless attribution of the line to Berle.

The name on the quote

Milton Berle — popularizer, not author

Milton Berle

1908–2002 · American comedian, “Mr. Television”

Milton Berle was a vaudeville-bred American comedian whose Texaco Star Theater made him television’s first breakout star in the late 1940s, earning the nickname “Mr. Television.” A relentless collector and reciter of one-liners, he became a natural magnet for stray witticisms — which is how “Laughter is an instant vacation” came to be pinned to him around 1977, years after the saying was already circulating. He helped popularize it, but the evidence does not show he coined it.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented in the Pennsylvania School Journal (1968), per Quote Investigator

Garson O’Toole (Quote Investigator), “Laughter Is an Instant Vacation,” QuoteInvestigator.com, November 25, 2014, tracing the saying to the Pennsylvania School Journal (1968) and newspaper printings (1976), before the earliest Milton Berle ascription (1977).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Laughter is an instant vacation’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/laughter-is-an-instant-vacation

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