--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare…" description: "\"Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am going to get it rounded up to hundred per cent?\" — Saul Bellow" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee6/saul-bellow-558_cents_ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-d_1724692.png" --- # Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am… ![“Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am going to get it rounded up to hundred per cent?” quote by Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee6/saul-bellow-558_cents_ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-d_1724692.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee6/saul-bellow-558_cents_ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-d_1724692.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee6/saul-bellow-558_cents_ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-d_1724692.png) > “Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am going to get it rounded up to hundred per cent?” [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life is often chaotic and incomplete, and striving for perfection can feel futile. **In simple terms:** Life is messy, not perfect. Key Takeaway Accept imperfection, focus on progress. Themes existential humor philosophy Mood cynical thoughtful Type philosophical humorous When to use this quote - personal growth - career planning - mental health - goal setting Key Concepts imperfection expectation reality Questions to Reflect On - Do you chase perfection? - How do you cope with setbacks? A Different Perspective Perfect scores are unrealistic and stressful. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Nightmare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nightmare/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Ninety nine per cent of the time, for anyone who wins or makes money, it makes them happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-blessed/ninety-nine-per-cent-of-the-time-for-anyone-who-wins-or-makes-money/) [Brian Blessed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-blessed/) > [I have defined the hundred per cent American as ninety-nine per cent an idiot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-have-defined-the-hundred-per-cent-american-as-ninety-nine-per-cent/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [“It is ten per cent how you draw, and ninety per cent what you draw.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-loomis/it-is-ten-per-cent-how-you-draw-and-ninety-per-cent-what-you-draw/) [Andrew Loomis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-loomis/) > [Ninety-five per cent of my time is virtually wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antony-garrett-lisi/ninety-five-per-cent-of-my-time-is-virtually-wasted/) [Antony Garrett Lisi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antony-garrett-lisi/) > [“Ninety per cent of the art of living consists of getting on with people you can't stand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-goldwyn/ninety-per-cent-of-the-art-of-living-consists-of-getting-on-with/) [Samuel Goldwyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-goldwyn/) > [Ninety per cent of being a parent is just being present and available.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cho/ninety-per-cent-of-being-a-parent-is-just-being-present-and-available/) [John Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cho/) > [Ninety per cent of my movies were hits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balachandra-menon/ninety-per-cent-of-my-movies-were-hits/) [Balachandra Menon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balachandra-menon/) > [I dream about you but it is just a nightmare I think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phara168/i-dream-about-you-but-it-is-just-a-nightmare-i-think/) Phara168 > [When you have a nightmare, you think, 'What caused this?' And then you can sometimes get the same scenario two or three nights, back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/king-diamond/when-you-have-a-nightmare-you-think-what-caused-this-and-then-you-can/) [King Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/king-diamond/) > [We looked in the past, Its was all a nightmare. I think we are finally awake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasmine-laura/we-looked-in-the-past-its-was-all-a-nightmare-i-think-we-are-finally/) [Jasmine Laura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasmine-laura/) > [“And what is that nightmare, Craig?" "Life" "Life is a nightmare" "Yes”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ned-vizzini/and-what-is-that-nightmare-craig-life-life-is-a-nightmare-yes/) [Ned Vizzini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ned-vizzini/) > [“You carry/All the ingredients/To turn your life into a nightmare--/Don't mix them!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hafiz/you-carry-all-the-ingredients-to-turn-your-life-into-a-nightmare-don/) [Hafiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hafiz/) > [It was a dream move for me - I was at my hometown club - but I couldn't leave the house myself or with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fabio-quagliarella/it-was-a-dream-move-for-me-i-was-at-my-hometown-club-but-i-couldn-t/) [Fabio Quagliarella](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fabio-quagliarella/) > [What happened when you woke up?" "I was having a dream. I don’t know what it was, but when I woke up, I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ned-vizzini/what-happened-when-you-woke-up-i-was-having-a-dream-i-don-t-know-what/) [Ned Vizzini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ned-vizzini/) > [If you lost the love of your life, that's a nightmare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quentin-dupieux/if-you-lost-the-love-of-your-life-that-s-a-nightmare/) [Quentin Dupieux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quentin-dupieux/) ## More by Saul Bellow > [... a fellow can't predict what he will pick up in the form of influence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/a-fellow-can-t-predict-what-he-will-pick-up-in-the-form-of-influence/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [If I'm out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/if-i-m-out-of-my-mind-it-s-all-right-with-me-thought-moses-herzog/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [I have begun in old age to understand just how oddly we are all put together. We are so proud of our autonomy that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/i-have-begun-in-old-age-to-understand-just-how-oddly-we-are-all-put/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“On Broadway it was still bright afternoon and the gassy air was almost motionless under the leaden spokes of sunlight, and sawdust footprints lay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/on-broadway-it-was-still-bright-afternoon-and-the-gassy-air-was/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [There are evils that have the ability to survive identification and go on for ever... money, for instance, or war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/there-are-evils-that-have-the-ability-to-survive-identification-and/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [Myself is thus and so, and will continue thus and so. And why fight it? My balance comes from instability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/myself-is-thus-and-so-and-will-continue-thus-and-so-and-why-fight-it/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“A strange heart. I myself can't account for it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/a-strange-heart-i-myself-can-t-account-for-it/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [The late philosopher Morris R. Cohen of CCNY was asked by a student in the metaphysics course, Professor Cohen, how do I know that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/the-late-philosopher-morris-r-cohen-of-ccny-was-asked-by-a-student-in/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“Therefore we didn't talk of genuine things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/therefore-we-didn-t-talk-of-genuine-things/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [Is our species crazy? Plenty of evidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/is-our-species-crazy-plenty-of-evidence/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“But now the emphasis has shifted to making it. People have surrendered their personal moral objectives to government or schools or psychologists. It’s a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/but-now-the-emphasis-has-shifted-to-making-it-people-have-surrendered/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [There's a kind of emptiness at the center of life ... nothing to form your life on, or by.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/there-s-a-kind-of-emptiness-at-the-center-of-life-nothing-to-form/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“I don't know how it all at once came to me to talk a lot, tell jokes, kick up, and suddenly have views. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/i-don-t-know-how-it-all-at-once-came-to-me-to-talk-a-lot-tell-jokes/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [There are times when the most practical thing is to lie down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/there-are-times-when-the-most-practical-thing-is-to-lie-down/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“For knowledge of death makes us wish to extend our lives at the expense of others. And this is the root of the struggle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/for-knowledge-of-death-makes-us-wish-to-extend-our-lives-at-the/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) [Explore all 464 Saul Bellow quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) ## More Cents quotes > [Popular culture as a whole is popular, but in today's fragmented market it's a jostle of competing unpopular popular cultures. As the critic Stanley…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-steyn/popular-culture-as-a-whole-is-popular-but-in-today-s-fragmented/) [Mark Steyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-steyn/) > [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Only two to three per cent of an audience is interested in words and pays attention to lyrics; most of the rest of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-stewart/only-two-to-three-per-cent-of-an-audience-is-interested-in-words-and/) [Al Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-stewart/) > [Ninety nine per cent of the time, for anyone who wins or makes money, it makes them happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-blessed/ninety-nine-per-cent-of-the-time-for-anyone-who-wins-or-makes-money/) [Brian Blessed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-blessed/) > [The Pink Panther wasn't shown to the press for reasons that soon became apparent when I saw it at a public performance. Two people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-french/the-pink-panther-wasn-t-shown-to-the-press-for-reasons-that-soon/) [Philip French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-french/) > [It cost about 75 cents to kill a man in Ceasar's time. The price rose to about $3,000 per man during the Napoleonic wars;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer-bone/it-cost-about-75-cents-to-kill-a-man-in-ceasar-s-time-the-price-rose/) Homer Bone > [The Bell curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-kuan-yew/the-bell-curve-is-a-fact-of-life-the-blacks-on-average-score-85-per/) [Lee Kuan Yew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-kuan-yew/) > [...that in spite of living in a mansion an American is not above wearing a pair of secondhand pants, bought for fifty cents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhumpa-lahiri/that-in-spite-of-living-in-a-mansion-an-american-is-not-above-wearing/) [Jhumpa Lahiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhumpa-lahiri/) > [I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life I have never obstructed justice,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-nixon/i-have-earned-every-cent-and-in-all-of-my-years-of-public-life-i-have/) [Richard M. Nixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-nixon/) > [If every country committed to spending 0.05 per cent of GDP on researching non-carbon-emitting energy technologies, that would cost $25 billion a year, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bjorn-lomborg/if-every-country-committed-to-spending-0-05-per-cent-of-gdp-on/) [Bjorn Lomborg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bjorn-lomborg/) > [You could pay a fair market price for a barrel of oil and cut 50 cents a barrel or a dollar barrel off what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-bolling/you-could-pay-a-fair-market-price-for-a-barrel-of-oil-and-cut-50/) [Eric Bolling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-bolling/) > [In market research I did at Microsoft Corp. in the early 1990s, I estimated that the 'Wall Street Journal' took in about 75 cents…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-myhrvold/in-market-research-i-did-at-microsoft-corp-in-the-early-1990s-i/) [Nathan Myhrvold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-myhrvold/) > [Shooting is 99 per cent luck and one per cent training](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhinav-bindra/shooting-is-99-per-cent-luck-and-one-per-cent-training/) [Abhinav Bindra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhinav-bindra/) > [In 1985, the top five percent of the households - the wealthiest five percent - had net worth of $8 trillion - which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-stockman/in-1985-the-top-five-percent-of-the-households-the-wealthiest-five/) [David Stockman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-stockman/) > [For chat-room tyros who expect to make their first million day-trading by age 27, paging through the Sunday newspaper with a pair of scissors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-berenson/for-chat-room-tyros-who-expect-to-make-their-first-million-day/) [Alex Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-berenson/) Browse all 772 Cents quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am going to get it rounded up to hundred per cent?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Saul Bellow" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-do-you-think-i-am-going-to-get/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Cents" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-do-you-think-i-am-going-to-get/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee6/saul-bellow-558_cents_ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-d_1724692.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee6/saul-bellow-558_cents_ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-d_1724692.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee6/saul-bellow-558_cents_ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-d_1724692.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am going to get it rounded up to hundred per cent?” — Saul Bellow", "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": "Saul Bellow", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Ninety per cent of life is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-do-you-think-i-am-going-to-get/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/ninety-per-cent-of-life-is-a-nightmare-do-you-think-i-am-going-to-get/#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 } } ] } ```