"I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation"

W. Somerset Maugham's reflection, "I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation", offers a nuanced prescription for navigating the trials and unpredictability inherent in human existence. The essence of the passage lies in the marriage of two attitudes: humor and resignation. Resignation, often seen as passive acceptance, here assumes a paradoxically proactive role when it is allied with humor. It is not about surrendering to defeat or passively enduring misfortune, but about meeting the inevitable realities and absurdities of life with equanimity, intelligence, and a wry smile.

Humor plays a key role. Laughter, especially about one's own setbacks and the world’s contradictions, provides emotional distance, a safeguard against the corrosive effects of bitterness, disappointment, or despair. Life’s challenges, disappointments, and ironies cease to be wholly burdensome when they are situated within the context of comedy. Self-deprecation, gentle irony, and an ability to find absurdity in adversity restore proportion, reminding us not to take ourselves or our circumstances too seriously. In this way, humor becomes a tool for psychological resilience.

Paired with resignation, humor transforms what might otherwise be passive fatalism into open-eyed acceptance. Resignation acknowledges the limits of personal control: fate, chance, other people’s actions, all beyond our command. Instead of raging against what cannot be changed, the individual calmly recognizes those limits. However, by responding with humor, this resignation does not curdle into cynicism. Instead, it fosters a temperament that is light, supple, and attuned to the subtle comedy of human striving.

Such a "comfortable frame of mind" encourages both sanity and compassion. Not only does it make life’s disappointments easier to bear, but it also cultivates empathy for oneself and others, recognizing the shared comic plight of all human beings tumbling through a world much larger and stranger than they can ever master.