If a man simply lets others pay for him, he is "mean"
 C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1942). copy citation

add
Author C. S. Lewis
Source The Screwtape Letters
Topic meaning
Date 1942
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink https://www.truechristianity.info/en/the_screwtape_letters.php

Context

“so seriously that a deficiency in this sense is almost the only deficiency at which they feel shame. Humour is for them the all-consoling and (mark this) the all-excusing, grace of life. Hence it is invaluable as a means of destroying shame. If a man simply lets others pay for him, he is "mean"; if he boasts of it in a jocular manner and twits his fellows with having been scored off, he is no longer "mean" but a comical fellow. Mere cowardice is shameful; cowardice boasted of with humorous exaggerations and grotesque gestures can passed off as funny.” source