--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A lifetime of happiness? No man could…" description: "\"A lifetime of happiness? No man could bear it: it would be hell on earth\" — George Bernard Shaw" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba7/george-bernard-shaw-68_happiness_a-lifetime-of-happiness-no-man-could-bea_3202998.png" --- # A lifetime of happiness? No man could bear it: it would be… ![“A lifetime of happiness? No man could bear it: it would be hell on earth” quote by George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba7/george-bernard-shaw-68_happiness_a-lifetime-of-happiness-no-man-could-bea_3202998.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba7/george-bernard-shaw-68_happiness_a-lifetime-of-happiness-no-man-could-bea_3202998.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba7/george-bernard-shaw-68_happiness_a-lifetime-of-happiness-no-man-could-bea_3202998.png) > “A lifetime of happiness? No man could bear it: it would be hell on earth” [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Absolute happiness is impossible; it would become unbearable suffering. **In simple terms:** Total happiness can't exist. Key Takeaway Accept life's imperfections. Themes philosophy human nature happiness Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal fulfillment - mental health - relationship counseling - spiritual practice Key Concepts Existentialism hedonism Questions to Reflect On - What does happiness truly mean? - Can contentment replace happiness? A Different Perspective Pursuing constant happiness can lead to disappointment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Happiness Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness-man-277570/) [Hell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hell/) [Hell Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hell-earth/) [Hell on earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hell-on-earth/) [Lifetime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifetime/) [Lifetime Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifetime-happiness-229602/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) ## Related quotes > [But a lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/but-a-lifetime-of-happiness-no-man-alive-could-bear-it-it-would-be/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [“A lifetime of happiness: No man alive could bear it: It would be hell on earth. —George Bernard Shaw”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-ihle/a-lifetime-of-happiness-no-man-alive-could-bear-it-it-would-be-hell/) [Sharon Ihle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-ihle/) > [What has always made a Hell on earth has been that man has tried to make it his Heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-h-lderlin/what-has-always-made-a-hell-on-earth-has-been-that-man-has-tried-to/) [Friedrich Holderlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-h-lderlin/) > [“If there's a Hell on Earth, it's high school.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-desrochers/if-there-s-a-hell-on-earth-it-s-high-school/) [Lisa Desrochers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-desrochers/) > [When people use the word hell, what do they mean? They mean a place, an event, a situation absent of how God desires things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/when-people-use-the-word-hell-what-do-they-mean-they-mean-a-place-an/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [The idea of heaven is Christianity's way of creating a hell on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-manson/the-idea-of-heaven-is-christianity-s-way-of-creating-a-hell-on-earth/) [Marilyn Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-manson/) > [“Those who have aimed at utopia have often been the most effective at unleashing hell on earth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-wigg-stevenson/those-who-have-aimed-at-utopia-have-often-been-the-most-effective-at/) [Tyler Wigg-Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-wigg-stevenson/) > [“My sixteenth was anything but sweet; it was more like the passage into hell on earth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirsty-moseley/my-sixteenth-was-anything-but-sweet-it-was-more-like-the-passage-into/) [Kirsty Moseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirsty-moseley/) > [I feel bad for these preachers man, they're on their jets doing all of that stuff because there's a lot of people living hell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-montgomery/i-feel-bad-for-these-preachers-man-they-re-on-their-jets-doing-all-of/) [Ryan Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-montgomery/) > [I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell; and earth, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/i-think-earth-if-chosen-instead-of-heaven-will-turn-out-to-have-been/) [C. 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This was hell on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksander-kwasniewski/we-re-in-a-place-where-no-words-can-tell-the-truth-about-what/) [Aleksander Kwasniewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksander-kwasniewski/) > [“Outfitted with a 25 mm GAU-12 Equalizer, one Bofors 40 mm autocannon, and one 105 mm M102 cannon, it can and does unleash hell on earth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dirk-patton/outfitted-with-a-25-mm-gau-12-equalizer-one-bofors-40-mm-autocannon/) [Dirk Patton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dirk-patton/) > [I could believe only in the hell I was living in, a hell on earth, and it was man-made, not God-made.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-morpurgo/i-could-believe-only-in-the-hell-i-was-living-in-a-hell-on-earth-and/) [Michael Morpurgo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-morpurgo/) ## More by George Bernard Shaw > [I love little children too but I don't cut off their heads and stick them in vases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-love-little-children-too-but-i-don-t-cut-off-their-heads-and-stick/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Blasphemy and sedition (meaning the truth about Church and State).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/blasphemy-and-sedition-meaning-the-truth-about-church-and-state/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of life, man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-life-man-invents-nothing-but-in-the-arts-of-death-he/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [“My religious convictions and scientific views cannot at present be more specifically defined than as those of a believer in creative evolution. I desire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/my-religious-convictions-and-scientific-views-cannot-at-present-be/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/what-a-man-believes-may-be-ascertained-not-from-his-creed-but-from/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. 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Satisfaction is death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/as-long-as-i-have-a-want-i-have-a-reason-for-living-satisfaction-is/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The camera can represent flesh so superbly that, if I dared, I would never photograph a figure without asking that figure to take its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-camera-can-represent-flesh-so-superbly-that-if-i-dared-i-would/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [A man who is not a communist at the age of twenty is a fool. Any man who is still communist at the age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/a-man-who-is-not-a-communist-at-the-age-of-twenty-is-a-fool-any-man/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [But to admire a strong person and to live under that strong person’s thumb are two different things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/but-to-admire-a-strong-person-and-to-live-under-that-strong-person-s/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Socialism is the same as Communism, only better English.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/socialism-is-the-same-as-communism-only-better-english/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The person who is ignorant enough to believe that his nourishment depends on meat is in a horrible dilemma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-person-who-is-ignorant-enough-to-believe-that-his-nourishment/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of peace Man is a bungler.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-peace-man-is-a-bungler/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) [Explore all 1,640 George Bernard Shaw quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## More Happiness quotes > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Remember that your natural state is joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/remember-that-your-natural-state-is-joy/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [Balance suggests a perfect equilibrium. There is no such thing. That is a false expectation… There are going to be priorities and dimensions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-morrison/balance-suggests-a-perfect-equilibrium-there-is-no-such-thing-that-is/) [Denise Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-morrison/) > [“WE CAN'T ALWAYS CONTROL OUR CIRCUMSTANCES BUT WE CAN CONTROL OUR ATTITUDE. WE MUST BE MORE CONCERNED WITH WHAT WE DO WITH WHAT HAPPENS…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-j-ashton/we-can-t-always-control-our-circumstances-but-we-can-control-our/) [MARVIN J. 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He thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life; that, having seen it, he could die content,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mira-grant/it-was-beautiful-he-thought-he-had-never-seen-anything-so-beautiful/) [Mira Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mira-grant/) > [The happy have whole days,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colley-cibber/the-happy-have-whole-days/) [Colley Cibber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colley-cibber/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [I've got nothing to do today but smile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-ve-got-nothing-to-do-today-but-smile/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Her dignity consists in being unknown to the world; her glory is in the esteem of her husband; her pleasures in the happiness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/her-dignity-consists-in-being-unknown-to-the-world-her-glory-is-in/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-size-of-a-man-s-understanding-might-always-be-justly-measured-by/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Positive thinking evokes more energy, more initiative, more happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/positive-thinking-evokes-more-energy-more-initiative-more-happiness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When you have a choice, choose happy!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pancho-barnes/when-you-have-a-choice-choose-happy/) [Pancho Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pancho-barnes/) [Browse all 40,288 Happiness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A lifetime of happiness? 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