Max Forrester Eastman, Max Eastman
4 January 1883* – 25 March 1969
Birthplace: Canandaigua, New York
American author, political activist & poet
“It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.”
~Max Eastman, American author & editor
Enjoyment of Laughter (1936) New York: Simon & Schuster, 1936, 8th printing, p. 36; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org
Extended excerpt [Eastman, sharing his ‘amateur opinion’ that ‘apes have a rudimentary sense of humor.’]:
“He has at least enough feeling for a playful trick to understand that he has been teased and not attacked. It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.” (pp. 36-37)
Source link: Library – Enjoyment of Laughter (1936) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https://archive.org/stream/enjoymentoflaugh00east#page/36/mode/2up/search/take+a+joke
“People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo.”
~Max Eastman, American author & editor
Enjoyment of Poetry with Anthology for Enjoyment of Poetry (1951) New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951, p. 233
Extended excerpt [Non-fiction]:
“The word “great” when so used is a mere glorification of listlessness and leisure-class triviality. I omit from consideration here the fact that people who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo.” (p. 233)
Source note: The cited quote does not appear in Eastman’s 1913 or 1929 editions of Enjoyment of Poetry.
Source: Library – Enjoyment of Poetry with Anthology for Enjoyment of Poetry (1951) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 492441255
“[T]he worst enemy of human hope is not brute facts, but men of brains who will not face them.”
~Max Eastman, American author & editor
Reflections on the Failure of Socialism (March 1955) New York: Devin-Adair Co., June 1955, p. 57; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org
Extended excerpt [Author’s reflections on his ideological shift]:
“There occurred no change in my feeling on this subject when I abandoned the idea of proletarian revolution. I still think the worst enemy of human hope is not brute facts, but men of brains who will not face them.” (p. 57)
Source link: Reflections on the Failure of Socialism (March 1955|June 1955 edition) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https://archive.org/stream/reflectionsonfai00eastrich#page/56/mode/2up/search/worst+enemy+of+human
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