--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One can make one's life a complete…" description: "\"One can make one's life a complete misery, worrying about burglaries and shipwrecks, but ask anyone, anyone you know ... earth-shattering disasters and..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jean-anouilh-7113_asks_one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-miser_1976809.jpg" --- # One can make one's life a complete misery, worrying about… ![“One can make one's life a complete misery, worrying about burglaries and shipwrecks, but ask anyone, anyone you know ... earth-shattering disasters and fabulous inheritances all seems to take place exclusively in the newspapers.” quote by Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jean-anouilh-7113_asks_one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-miser_1976809.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jean-anouilh-7113_asks_one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-miser_1976809.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jean-anouilh-7113_asks_one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-miser_1976809.jpg) > “One can make one's life a complete misery, worrying about burglaries and shipwrecks, but ask anyone, anyone you know ... earth-shattering disasters and fabulous inheritances all seems to take place exclusively in the newspapers.” [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People focus on minor personal worries while major global events dominate headlines, highlighting a skewed perception of risk. **In simple terms:** We overreact to small threats, ignore big ones. Key Takeaway Balance attention between personal and global issues. Themes risk perception media influence human nature Mood critical reflective Type analytical observational When to use this quote - personal finance - disaster preparedness - media literacy - public policy Key Concepts cognitive bias information overload societal focus Questions to Reflect On - Do you prioritize personal anxieties over larger realities? - How does media shape your sense of danger? A Different Perspective Media can amplify fear, distorting priorities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Burglary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burglary/) [Disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) [Disasters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disasters/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Fabulous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fabulous/) [Inheritance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inheritance/) [Journalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journalism/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Misery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misery/) [Newspapers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/newspapers/) [Shipwreck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shipwreck/) [Worry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worry/) ## Related quotes > [Have you noticed that life, with murders and catastrophes and fabulous inheritances, happens almost exclusively in newspapers?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/have-you-noticed-that-life-with-murders-and-catastrophes-and-fabulous/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [We poison our lives with fear of burglary and shipwreck, and, ask anyone, the house is never burgled, and the ship never goes down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/we-poison-our-lives-with-fear-of-burglary-and-shipwreck-and-ask/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [“Then the bandit turned tail and broke for the open. Greeley hit the sidewalk only seconds after him, big as he was and with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornell-woolrich/then-the-bandit-turned-tail-and-broke-for-the-open-greeley-hit-the/) [Cornell Woolrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornell-woolrich/) > [This is brain surgery. Ski masks on my bullets, let 'em commit brain burglary. Emergency, it's an emergency. Someone in all black left the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lil-wayne/this-is-brain-surgery-ski-masks-on-my-bullets-let-em-commit-brain/) [Lil Wayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lil-wayne/) > [“Drug addicts driven to crime to finance their drug addiction are not often inclined toward violent crime. Violence requires all different kinds of energy,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/drug-addicts-driven-to-crime-to-finance-their-drug-addiction-are-not/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [I went to jail for residential burglary. I got a strike, and I was 19 years old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yg/i-went-to-jail-for-residential-burglary-i-got-a-strike-and-i-was-19/) YG > [If you are foolish enough to defend your own home against burglary, expect to be arrested, fingerprinted, DNA-swabbed, and probably charged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hitchens/if-you-are-foolish-enough-to-defend-your-own-home-against-burglary/) [Peter Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hitchens/) > [Confronted by an absolutely infuriating review, it is sometimes helpful for the victim to do a little personal research on the critic. Is there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-kerr/confronted-by-an-absolutely-infuriating-review-it-is-sometimes/) [Jean Kerr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-kerr/) > [High finance isn't burglary or obtaining money by false pretenses, but rather a judicious selection from the best features of those fine arts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/finley-peter-dunne/high-finance-isn-t-burglary-or-obtaining-money-by-false-pretenses-but/) [Finley Peter Dunne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/finley-peter-dunne/) > [The young love and cherish people and places from which they receive the skills and the emotional support which enable them to make it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-p-comer/the-young-love-and-cherish-people-and-places-from-which-they-receive/) [James P. Comer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-p-comer/) > [ \[Salvation\] is a curious process of divine burglary. The first thing to be wrested from one by a God who said 'Thou shalt not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-goudge/salvation-is-a-curious-process-of-divine-burglary-the-first-thing-to/) [Elizabeth Goudge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-goudge/) > [Theft and burglary can often be run by organised crime gangs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suella-braverman/theft-and-burglary-can-often-be-run-by-organised-crime-gangs/) [Suella Braverman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suella-braverman/) > [A man can be prevented from breaking into other persons' houses by shutting him up, but shutting him up may not alter his disposition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-man-can-be-prevented-from-breaking-into-other-persons-houses-by/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“The whole concept of some stranger making his way down our chimney - not that we had one - suggested burglary more readily than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomm-quackenbush/the-whole-concept-of-some-stranger-making-his-way-down-our-chimney/) [Thomm Quackenbush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomm-quackenbush/) > [The underlying crime in Watergate was a clumsy, third-rate burglary in an election campaign that turned out to be a landslide.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-t-conway-iii/the-underlying-crime-in-watergate-was-a-clumsy-third-rate-burglary-in/) [George T. Conway III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-t-conway-iii/) ## More by Jean Anouilh > [“I spit on your happiness! I spit on your idea of life--that life that must go on, come what may. You are all like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/i-spit-on-your-happiness-i-spit-on-your-idea-of-life-that-life-that/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [It is restful, tragedy, because one knows that there is no more lousy hope left. You know you're caught, caught at last like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/it-is-restful-tragedy-because-one-knows-that-there-is-no-more-lousy/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [Saintliness is also a temptation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/saintliness-is-also-a-temptation/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [Propaganda is a soft weapon; hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, and strike the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/propaganda-is-a-soft-weapon-hold-it-in-your-hands-too-long-and-it/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [A good actor must never be in love with anyone but himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/a-good-actor-must-never-be-in-love-with-anyone-but-himself/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [I don't want people to love me. It makes for obligations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/i-don-t-want-people-to-love-me-it-makes-for-obligations/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [Poor little men, poor little cocks! As soon as they're old enough, they swell their plumage to be conquerors. If they only knew that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/poor-little-men-poor-little-cocks-as-soon-as-they-re-old-enough-they/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [Life consists of nothing more than the happiness we can get out of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/life-consists-of-nothing-more-than-the-happiness-we-can-get-out-of-it/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [Each of us has a day .. when he has to accept, finally, the fact that he is a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/each-of-us-has-a-day-when-he-has-to-accept-finally-the-fact-that-he/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [We have found other terms far less vague than the old ones to designate the same complaints. It's a great advance linguistically.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/we-have-found-other-terms-far-less-vague-than-the-old-ones-to/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [One can be a patriot, you know, without making one's wife join the breadline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/one-can-be-a-patriot-you-know-without-making-one-s-wife-join-the/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [All prisons are brimming over with innocence. It is those who cram their fellows into them, in the name of empty ideas, who are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/all-prisons-are-brimming-over-with-innocence-it-is-those-who-cram/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [Obligations, hatreds, injuries; what did I expect my memories to be? I was forgetting remorse. Now I have a complete past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/obligations-hatreds-injuries-what-did-i-expect-my-memories-to-be-i/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [We poison our lives with fear of burglary and shipwreck, and, ask anyone, the house is never burgled, and the ship never goes down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/we-poison-our-lives-with-fear-of-burglary-and-shipwreck-and-ask/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) > [Je sais de quelles petitesses meurent les plus grandes amours. I know how pettiness ruins the greatest loves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/je-sais-de-quelles-petitesses-meurent-les-plus-grandes-amours-i-know/) [Jean Anouilh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) [Explore all 85 Jean Anouilh quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/) ## More Asks quotes > [If you ask an introvert a question, wait until she thinks about it. 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And suddenly forever seems like too short a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-andreas/there-is-nothing-more-i-ask-of-this-life-than-this-moment-exactly-so/) [Brian Andreas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-andreas/) > [Success will come when the societal attitude changes and not a single woman in America asks herself the question 'What did I do?'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-biden/success-will-come-when-the-societal-attitude-changes-and-not-a-single/) [Joe Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-biden/) > [The most fundamental question we can ever ask ourselves is whether or not the universe we live in is friendly or hostile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/the-most-fundamental-question-we-can-ever-ask-ourselves-is-whether-or/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [The rich people are apparently leaving America. They're giving up their citizenship. 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That's th' appliance only Which your disease requires.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/ask-god-for-temp-rance-that-s-th-appliance-only-which-your-disease/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [I don't know how to say it exactly. Only...I want to die as myself. Does that make any sense?' he asks. I shake my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/i-don-t-know-how-to-say-it-exactly-only-i-want-to-die-as-myself-does/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Physicist Isador Isaac Rabi, who won a Nobel Prize for inventing a technique that permitted scientists to probe the structure of atoms and molecules…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-saul-wurman/physicist-isador-isaac-rabi-who-won-a-nobel-prize-for-inventing-a/) [Richard Saul Wurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-saul-wurman/) Browse all 7,138 Asks quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "One can make one's life a complete misery, worrying about burglaries and shipwrecks, but ask anyone, anyone you know ... earth-shattering disasters and fabulous inheritances all seems to take place exclusively in the newspapers.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Anouilh" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-misery-worrying-about-burglaries/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Asks" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-misery-worrying-about-burglaries/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jean-anouilh-7113_asks_one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-miser_1976809.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jean-anouilh-7113_asks_one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-miser_1976809.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jean-anouilh-7113_asks_one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-miser_1976809.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“One can make one's life a complete misery, worrying about burglaries and shipwrecks, but ask anyone, anyone…” — Jean Anouilh", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jean Anouilh", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anouilh/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "One can make one's life a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-misery-worrying-about-burglaries/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anouilh/one-can-make-one-s-life-a-complete-misery-worrying-about-burglaries/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```