QuoteProject
No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures. No ascetic can be considered reliably sane.
A. J. Liebling
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Pleasures are essential for a balanced and sane life; rejecting them completely can lead to an unstable mindset.

A. J. Liebling emphasizes the importance of pleasures in maintaining mental health and stability. The quote suggests that eschewing pleasures, as an ascetic might, can lead to a form of insanity, indicating that a sane person recognizes the need for enjoyment and fulfillment in life.

Themes

PleasureSanityAsceticismLifeHappiness

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about work-life balance, one could use this quote to emphasize the need for relaxation and enjoyment.

More from A. J. Liebling

The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money.
A. J. LieblingRead
The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite. Without this, it is impossible to accumulate, within the allotted span, enough experience of eating to have anything worth setting down.
A. J. LieblingRead
A city with one newspaper... is like a man with one eye, and often the eye is glass.
A. J. LieblingRead
I take a grave view of the press. It is the weak slat under the bed of democracy
A. J. LieblingRead
A city with one newspaper, or with a morning and an evening paper under one ownership, is like a man with one eye, and often the eye is glass.
A. J. LieblingRead
Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
A. J. LieblingRead

Similar quotes

Pay attention to the hungry, both in this country and around the world. Pay attention to the poor. Pay attention to our responsibilities for world peace. We are our brother's keeper.
George McgovernRead
Reality may avoid the obligation to be interesting, but ... hypotheses may not.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
For man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.
William ShakespeareRead
The Ultimate and Highest leave taking is leaving God for GOD, leaving your notion of God for an Experience of That which transcends all notions.
Meister EckhartRead
Pride, on the other hand, is the mother of all sins, and the original sin of lucifer.... An instrument strung, but preferring to play itself because it thinks it knows the tune better than the Musician
C. S. LewisRead
Man is a creative retrospection of nature upon itself.
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich SchlegelRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by A. J. Liebling | QuoteProject