It wasn't that happiness led to humor, but more that humor could lead, perhaps, to happiness--that an eye for the absurd could keep one active in one's despair, the opposite of depressed: static and passive.
-- Lillian (3 )

Importance: In this section, Olive has just told Lillian that she considers Lillian to be a happy person because of her quick wit. However, Lillian wishes that the humorless Olive could see the truth: that Lillian is happier because she is funny. Wittiness gives Lillian something to do; she believes depression keeps a person inactive.

But now we have turned, or are being turned, into a tribe of incorrigible brats.
-- Lillian (chapter 3)

Importance: In 1984, Lillian is watching television commercials at a bar. She considers the distinction between the kinds of ads she used to write and the ads on television. She considers the modern media to be an "infantilization" of the country; Lillian thinks that when she was younger...