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There's an old joke... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, 'Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.' The other one says, 'Yeah, I know; and such small portions.' Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness - and it's all over much too quickly.

Woody Allen#57

LifePhilosophyAbsurdityTimeSuffering

About this quote

What does it mean?
Life is mostly suffering, but it ends too quickly to even dwell on it.
In plain terms
Life is full of pain and ends too fast.
What can you take from it?
Suffering is universal but fleeting.

Where it applies

  • existential dread
  • comedy routine

Putting it to work

  • accepting life's brevity

Questions to consider

  • Is life mostly suffering?
  • Does brevity make pain bearable?

Another view

It reduces life to purely negative experiences.

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