Every time is a time for comedy in a world of tension that would languish without it. But I cannot confine myself to lightness in a period of human life that demands light... We all know that, as the old adage has it, "It is later than you think."..., but I also say occasionally: "It is lighter than you think." In this light let's not look back in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness.

"Foreword", Lanterns & Lances (1961)