Humor is just another defense against the universe.
Interpretation
Humor serves as a mechanism to cope with the challenges of life.
In this quote, Mel Brooks suggests that humor acts as a protective barrier against the often overwhelming and chaotic nature of the universe. By utilizing humor, individuals can shield themselves from negativity and find solace in laughter, allowing for a healthier perspective on life's difficulties.
In practice
In a speech about overcoming adversity, one might say, 'As Mel Brooks wisely noted, humor is just another defense against the universe.'
Look, I don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive you've got to flap your arms and legs, you've got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at very least think noisy and colorfully, or you're not alive.
You got to be brave. If you feel something, you've really got to risk it.
Hope for the Best. Expect the worst. Life is a play. We're unrehearsed.
If you're quiet, you're not living. You've got to be noisy and colorful and lively.
We want to get people laughing; we don't want to offend anybody.
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.
Is the chemical aftertaste the reason why people eat hot dogs, or is it some kind of bonus?
The parody is the last refuge of the frustrated writer. Parodies are what you write when you are associate editor of the Harvard Lampoon. The greater the work of literature, the easier the parody. The step up from writing parodies is writing on the wall above the urinal.
Like other parties of the kind, it was first silent, then talky, then argumentative, then disputatious, then unintelligible, then altogether, then inarticulate, and then drunk. When we had reached the last step of this glorious ladder, it was difficult to get down again without stumbling.
Instead of working for the survival of the fittest, we should be working for the survival of the wittiest - then we can all die laughing.
It should seem that it is easier to square the circle than to get round a mathematician.
In keeping with my family's affection for doomed product lines and hexed formats, we purchased a Betamax. The year before, we'd bought a TRS-80 instead of an Apple II, and in due course we'd unbox Mattel's Intellivision, instead of Atari's legendary gizmo. This was good training for a writer, for the sooner you accept the fact that you are a deluded idiot who is always out of step with reality the better off you will be.
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