From the early Church Fathers to now.
1 Patristic · 1 Medieval
“Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected.”
“"Anger is better than laughter, for through a sad face the heart is improved. "Laughter weakens the mind, anger reproves and corrects it. Both let us become angry with ourselves when we sin, and let us get angry with others. Through the sadness of the face, even the spirit becomes better, as Symmachus saw it. And therefore "woe now to those who laugh, since they will mourn." [Luc. 6, 25.]”
“And he confirms this lesson by the judgment of the wise: whence he says: "The heart of the wise is where sadness is": but on the contrary: "The heart of fools is where merriment is": the former seek sorrowful things in the present, the latter pleasant things: John 16: "You shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice." And that the former act wisely, and the latter foolishly, is clear from the outcome, because it is said to the sorrowful in Luke 6: "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh"; and on the contrary to those who rejoice: "Woe to you who laugh, for you shall weep."”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.