The basis of tragedy is man's helplessness against disease, war and death; the basis of comedy is man's helplessness against vanity (the vanity of love, greed, lust, power).
Bio: Rabbi Hermann Adler was the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire from 1891 to 1911. The son of Nathan Marcus Adler, the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica writes that he "raised the position to one of much dignity and importance."