Source: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition”
“A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.”
Un homme heureux est trop content du présent pour trop se soucier de l'avenir.
From "Mes Projets d'Avenir", a French essay written at age 17 for a school exam (18 September 1896). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein Vol. 1 (1987) Doc. 22.
1890s
Variant: A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.
Source: Home Truths (1859), Ch. II: "Repent, or Perish", p. 73
“One man alone is too much for one man alone.”
Voces (1943)
1920s, Viereck interview (1929)
“A man is always afraid of a woman that loves him too much”
Source: The Beggar's Opera
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter CIV: On Care of Health and Peace of Mind
1930s, Wisehart interview (1930)
Context: Much reading after a certain age diverts the mind from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking, just as the man who spends too much time in the theaters is apt to be content with living vicariously instead of living his own life.
“No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about lengthening it.”
Nulli potest secura vita contingere qui de producenda nimis cogitat.
Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter IV: On the terrors of death, Line 4.
