“There's nothing grimmer than the tragedy that wears a comic mask.”
“Always be comic in a tragedy”
“People are more complicated than the masks they wear in society.”
“It's easier for the former masters to put aside the masks that hid their humanity than for the former slaves to recognise the faces underneath. Or to trust that this is not a new mask these are wearing.”
“Always be comic in a tragedy. What the deuce else can you do?”
“In some ways grief anonymizes as powerfully as a Greek tragedy mask.”