A joke is not a thing but a process, a trick you play on the listener's mind. You start him off toward a plausible goal, and then by a sudden twist you land him nowhere at all or just where he didn't expect to go. ~Max Eastman
Goal Mind Process
A liberal mind is a mind that is able to imagine itself believing anything. ~Max Eastman
Mind Imagine Believing
A poet in history is divine, but a poet in the next room is a joke. ~Max Eastman
History Next Divine
A smile is the universal welcome. ~Max Eastman
Smile Welcome Universal
Classic art was the art of necessity: modern romantic art bears the stamp of caprice and chance. ~Max Eastman
Art Romantic Chance
Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails. ~Max Eastman
Pet Laugh Dogs
Emotion is the surest arbiter of a poetic choice, and it is the priest of all supreme unions in the mind. ~Max Eastman
Mind Choice Emotion
Humor is the instinct for taking pain playfully. ~Max Eastman
Humor Pain Instinct
I don't know why it is we are in such a hurry to get up when we fall down. You might think we would lie there and rest for a while. ~Max Eastman
Lie Rest Fall
It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process. ~Max Eastman
Life Art Beauty
It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor. ~Max Eastman
Humor Sense Of Humor You
Laughter is, after speech, the chief thing that holds society together. ~Max Eastman
Laughter Together Society
People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo. ~Max Eastman
People Situation
Robert Benchley has a style that is weak and lies down frequently to rest. ~Max Eastman
Style Rest Down
The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness. ~Max Eastman
Artist Cherish Function
The worst enemy of human hope is not brute facts, but men of brains who will not face them. ~Max Eastman
Hope Men Enemy