The good are better made by ill, As odours crushed are sweeter still.
Samuel RogersRead
Almost all men are over anxious. No sooner do they enter the world than they lose that taste for natural and simple pleasures so remarkable in early life. Every hour do they ask themselves what progress they have made in the pursuit of wealth or honor and on they go as their fathers went before them till weary and sick at heart they look back with a sigh of regret to the golden time of their childhood.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on how people often lose appreciation for simple pleasures in pursuit of success and wealth as they grow older.
Samuel Rogers articulates the melancholy of adulthood, where the simple joys of childhood are replaced by an obsessive pursuit of material gain and societal status. He suggests that this change leads to a disconnection from what truly brings happiness, often resulting in regret as one reflects on the lost innocence and joy of youth. The quote serves as a reminder to cherish and nurture the simple pleasures in life that are often overshadowed by adult responsibilities and ambitions.
Themes
LifeWealthRegretHappinessChildhoodPleasures
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational talk about life choices, one might quote this to encourage people to appreciate simplicity.
More from Samuel Rogers
All quotes →Sweet Memory! wafted by thy gentle gale, Oft up the stream of Time I turn my sail.
Samuel RogersRead
Similar quotes
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
John HughesRead
I bought a gun and chose drugs instead.
Kurt CobainRead
My parents survived the Great Depression and brought me up to live within my means, save some for tomorrow, share and don't be greedy, work hard for the necessities in life knowing that money does not make you better or more important than anyone else. So, extravagance has been bred out of my DNA.
David SuzukiRead
His whole future seemed suddenly to be unrolled before him; and passing down its endless emptiness he saw the dwindling figure of a man to whom nothing was ever to happen.
Edith WhartonRead
Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again.
Menachem Mendel SchneersonRead
I'm bred for farm work, and for such folk, the only A's you get come from effort. Strife and strain are all the world can offer, and they temper you into something unbreakable because Lord knows they'll try -- without let up -- to break you.
Mary KarrRead