No sane man can be happy, for to him life is real, and he sees what a fearful thing it is.
 Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger (1916). copy citation

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Author Mark Twain
Source The Mysterious Stranger
Topic life fearful
Date 1916
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3186/3186-h/3186-h.htm

Context

“It was difficult to irritate Satan, but that accomplished it. “What an ass you are!” he said. “Are you so unobservant as not to have found out that sanity and happiness are an impossible combination? No sane man can be happy, for to him life is real, and he sees what a fearful thing it is. Only the mad can be happy, and not many of those. The few that imagine themselves kings or gods are happy, the rest are no happier than the sane. Of course, no man is entirely in his right mind at any time, but I have been referring to the extreme cases.” source