To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But, then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer, to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love, to be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy, therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness - I hope you're getting this down.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A circular argument asserting that suffering is inevitable whether one loves or does not love.
- In plain terms
- You suffer whether you love or not, so happiness is suffering.
- What can you take from it?
- Love and pain are inextricably linked in the human condition.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is suffering unavoidable in love?
- Can happiness exist without pain?
Another view
It presents a nihilistic view that ignores moments of genuine joy.
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