Time is so old and love so brief, love is pure gold and time a thief. We're late, darling, we're late, The curtain descends, everything ends, too soon, too soon.
Ogden NashRead
There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, and that is to have either a clear conscience or none at all.
Interpretation
True happiness comes from a clear conscience or a lack of concerns over one's actions.
Ogden Nash emphasizes that happiness is fundamentally linked to one's moral integrity. The quote suggests that to attain true happiness on Earth, one must either live with a clear conscience—acting ethically and justly—or choose to live without any moral concerns, thus freeing oneself from the burden of guilt or remorse. This highlights the importance of aligning one's actions with their values to find genuine joy.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of ethical behavior in achieving happiness.
Time is so old and love so brief, love is pure gold and time a thief. We're late, darling, we're late, The curtain descends, everything ends, too soon, too soon.
I'm like a backward berry, Unripened on the vine, For all my friends are fifty, And I'm only forty-nine.
I do not like to get the news, because there has never been an era when so many things were going so right for so many of the wrong persons.
Here's a good rule of thumb; too clever is dumb.
Middle-age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.
Here's a toast to the roast that good fellowship lends, with the sparkle of beer and wine; May its sentiment always be deeper, my friends, than the foam at the top of the stein. Then here's to the heartening wassail, wherever good fellows are found; Be its master instead of its vassal, and order the glasses around.
When wishes are few, the heart is happy. When craving ends, there is peace.
The true enjoyments must be spontaneous and compulsive and look to no remoter end.
Happiness is a state of mind. With physical comforts if your mind is still in a state of confusion and agitation, it is not happiness. Happiness means calmness of mind.
This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before.
The more we allow ourselves to enjoy, the more reasons we find to be joyful.
As we grow older and realize more clearly the limitations of human happiness, we come to see that the only real and abiding pleasure in life is to give pleasure to other people.
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