“The moon hung over the planet Earth, a dead thing over a dying thing.”

— John Fowles

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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John Fowles 120

British writer 1926–2005

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[L]ife was not so much "one damn thing after another" as "one damn thing over and over"
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The paraphrase by Dash appears to be the origin of later popularly attributed variants, e.g.:
It is not true that life is one damn thing after another. It's the same damn thing over and over.
As attributed without citation in Psychoanalysis Today: A Case Book (1991) by Elizabeth Thorne and Shirley Herscovitch Schaye, p. 93
It is not true that life is one damn thing after another. It's the same dang thing over and over again.
As attributed without citation in The Last Word: A Treasury of Women's Quotes (1992) by Carolyn Warner