he laughs best who laughs last
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
The person who ultimately succeeds or achieves their goal is the one who deserves to laugh
Literally: the image of someone laughing after others
Examples
He may have won this small battle, but he laughs best who laughs last
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “he laughs best who laughs last” mean?
The person who ultimately succeeds or achieves their goal is the one who deserves to laugh Literally: the image of someone laughing after others
Is “he laughs best who laughs last” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.