SOURCE: “The Power of Laughter: Weapon Against Evil,” in The Green Crow, George Braziller, Inc., 1956, pp. 226-32.

In the following essay, which was originally published in 1953, O'Casey addresses the role and significance of a sense of humor in both literature and life.

Laughter is wine for the soul—laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness Comedy and tragedy step through life together, arm in arm, all along, out along, down along lea. A laugh is the loud echo of a sigh; a sigh the faint echo of a laugh. A laugh is a great natural stimulator, a pushful entry into life; and once we can laugh, we can live. It is the hilarious declaration made by man that life is worth living. Man is always hopeful of, always pushing towards, better things; and to bring this about, a change must be made in the actual...