Thursday, July 22, 2010

Sarah Silverman on Happiness


My memoir-crush of the week is Sarah Silverman. This quote from her book The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee kind of counters the Lady Gaga quote from last week.

“A lot of comics think the real threat of mental blockage lies in being happy. They fear that happiness or just dealing with their shit might make them not funny anymore. To me, that’s a bunch of romanticized bullshit. I don’t know, I guess if you write your best stuff when you’re miserable, maybe, but I don’t. I’m paralyzed when I’m miserable. I sleep. A lot. I will always try to be happy. I don’t think people understand the value of happiness until they know what it’s like to be in that very, very dark place. It’s not romantic. Not even a little.”

Misery isn’t inspiring to me, but I find that my ongoing sense of something important is missing is a great motivator to keep making more stuff. It’s lonely and frustrating sometimes, but I like a sense of quest-ishness. And that is romantic.

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