“… To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then, one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; to not love is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness.”
- Woody Allen
American Actor, Author, Screenwriter and Film Director, b.1935
Image by stock.xchng
31 Comments
June 17, 2009 at 12:32 AM
Sigh…chicken and egg situation huh?
June 17, 2009 at 12:39 AM
So many things in life are chicken and egg. but you know what they say, it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all … so i guess that means to live a full life will inevitably involve suffering of some kind – it’s one of the wonderful human conditions we can’t avoid
June 17, 2009 at 12:33 AM
woody must have been reading about the ‘detachment concept’…
June 17, 2009 at 12:40 AM
Oooh, a concept I haven’t really read up about. What is it?
June 17, 2009 at 12:34 AM
That’s just based on your earthly logic.
June 17, 2009 at 12:42 AM
Unfortunately, I (or rather, Woody) only have earthly logic to fall back on, especially since we are kind of, you know, residing on earth and are, you know, humans. Tried asking God but there’s been this awful silence …
June 17, 2009 at 3:52 PM
The question to ask is whether you are willing to make changes to your life in such a way that you become less dependent on things that will lead to your suffering. God cares more about your soul when you leave this world, not what you will be getting from him. He lets you make your own choices in this world.
June 17, 2009 at 3:47 AM
*faints*
June 17, 2009 at 4:27 PM
Jonbyr, you faint way too much. i think you need therapy!
June 17, 2009 at 9:54 AM
*sighs* Why can\’t happiness be simple these days? I remember people saying that just \’smiling\’ or \’doing good deeds\’ can bring happiness to your life.
NOW, to love is to suffer, to love is also not to suffer.
Let\’s go jump into the Pacific Ocean together.
Hehe, kidding.
June 17, 2009 at 4:34 PM
nothing is simple nowadays. the more complicated, the better … cos it means we’re smarter and more profound. what?? just smile and do good deeds, then will be happy? maybe back in the 50s … now, it’s very complex. hmm. that Pacific Ocean doesn’t sound too bad now, does it?
June 17, 2009 at 3:52 PM
One thing is for sure: pain is necessary for growth.
June 17, 2009 at 4:36 PM
then i say this: I hate growth – it sux!
June 17, 2009 at 3:54 PM
LOVE IS GOD N GOD IS LOVE!!
June 17, 2009 at 3:54 PM
And Woody Allen is married to his adopted daughter who is young enough to be his daughter / grand daughter. So, I think he is just as confused about love but must say I love his movies.
June 17, 2009 at 4:37 PM
yeah, he’s a bit of a perv – haha… but he’s a man and all men are pervs. Woody Allen’s brilliant!
June 17, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Woody Allen is weird anyway.
June 17, 2009 at 4:37 PM
he’s not weird. he’s witty. those are two very different things! and there’s actually a lot of depth in what he says … funny too
June 17, 2009 at 3:56 PM
Nice stick figures.. love the green background.
June 17, 2009 at 4:41 PM
um thanks … but what about the really witty profound quotation?
June 18, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Oh.. is this what’s this post is about? I thought u wanted us to see the nice photo.. which incidentally, I thought could pass for abstract art.. although it does seem quite straight forward… lol..
June 17, 2009 at 4:30 PM
How do you proclaim love when you don’t even love yourself? You reject love and justify your actions by looking at the mistake of others. To suffer is to have known God and leave His grace.
June 17, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Hi Dinky, thanks for reading
I feel the need to clear up some stuff though … (1) I’ve never “proclaimed” anything, let alone love; (2) I’m rather fond of myself actually; (3) I never reject love, in fact, I pretty much lap it up whenever it’s available to me; (4) I look at the mistakes of others cos they’re funny and they make me laugh. If you assumed that the Woody Allen quote has to do with God and eternal hell and damnation, perhaps you should re-read it and try a little harder to understand it. Cheers!
June 18, 2009 at 3:08 PM
I am insulted that u called me a perv… hmm.. but then again, u may have a point there.
June 18, 2009 at 3:08 PM
Winnie is always right, Jason Loh. Always.
June 20, 2009 at 3:03 AM
Whoa.. now it’s going to be hard having a dialogue with you if you put it that way…
June 19, 2009 at 5:42 AM
Love is suffrage, but it is the pain of our hearts growing, breaking free from it’s hard cocoon. Love is to find yourself in constant worry over your heart and the heart of the one you have fallen for. So it is pain but it is a pain worth facing. It is more than that, it is suffrage worth embracing.
June 19, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Hi Eric, thanks for dropping by. Yeah, love is pain. But then, what’s living if we don’t experience pain every now and then, right? i must remember that the next time I “suffer”
July 1, 2009 at 4:29 AM
I’d be happy to “suffer from too much happiness”!
July 1, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Now that’s one problem I wish I had too! So happy it’s almost like your heart is about to burst out of your chest, you have a silly grin pasted on your face, you just wanna hug everyone you meet … how awesome
June 20, 2009 at 3:14 AM
But Jason Loh, I was right about you being a perv what! But it’s okay … I won’t tell anyone