The Comedians

by Graham Greene

if one can describe as serious the confused comedy of our lives.

Life was a comedy, not the tragedy for which I had been prepared, and it seemed to me that we were all, on this boat with a Greek name (why should a Dutch line name its boats in Greek?), driven by an authoritative practical joker towards the extreme point of comedy.

The more unstable life is the less one likes the small details to alter.

Wasn’t it possibly a flaw in character to believe so passionately in the integrity of all the world?

We belonged to the world of comedy and not of tragedy.

To you nothing exists except in your own thoughts.

My dear, try to believe we exist when you aren’t there. We’re independent of you. None of us is like you fancy we are. Perhaps it wouldn’t matter much if your thoughts were not so dark, always so dark.’

‘No, I don’t despair, I don’t believe in despair,

One always moves on.’