“They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise.
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise.
They've been wasting most their time
Glorifying days long gone behind,
They've been wasting most their days
In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise.”

Source: 2015, Address to the People of India (January 2015)

Source: Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog

The Jack Benny Program (Radio: 1932-1955), The Jack Benny Program (Television: 1950-1965)

Variant: Do we spend most of our days trying to remember or to forget? Do we spend most of our time running towards or away from our lives?
Source: Fighting Ruben Wolfe

Source: Something More, A Consideration of the Vast, Undeveloped Resources of Life (1920), p. 83
Context: The most tragic waste... is in the spiritual lives of men. Men who have the capacity for sonship and brotherhood are living as aliens and enemies, men who have the capacity for companionship are living as hermits, men who have the capacity for mighty victories are living as helpless slaves, men who have the capacity for service are living as parasites. Man is only a small fraction of what he might be.

Preface To The Second Edition, p. 27-28.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
Context: The conclusion to which I am ever more clearly coming is that the only hope of attaining a true system of economics is to fling aside, once and forever, the mazy and preposterous assumptions of the Ricardian school. Our English economists have been living in a fool's paradise. The truth is with the French school, and the sooner we recognize the fact, the better it will be for all the world, except perhaps the few writers who are far too committed to the old erroneous doctrines to allow for renunciation.

&quot;The Lightness Of Being&quot; (25 April 2007) Pack Creek Ranch, San Juan County, Utah http://robertfulghum.com/index.php/fulghumweb/entry/377_the_lightness_of_being/ <br class="br">Web Journal <br class="br">Context: The four of us are talking dancing, and laughing, and recalling the joys of being out on the floor and having that timeless feeling that comes from being caught up in the music. &quot;Nobody should miss that,&quot; says Dave.<br>On the face of it, Dave&#x27;s family and I don&#x27;t have a lot in common. They&#x27;re Mormons and Republicans. I&#x27;m a Unitarian and a Democrat. When Dave was on the County Council, we were on different sides of some important issues. I grew up a Southern Baptist in Texas where dancing was a mortal sin in the eyes of Almighty God, but coffee was OK. Dave grew up a Latter Day Saint where dancing was considered righteous – but not coffee.<br>But... we&#x27;re dancers. And laughers. That&#x27;s a strong bond right there. And we&#x27;re committed to being useful in our world. And if you love something, like dancing, and you pass it on, like Dave and his wife do, you&#x27;ve been very useful by my standards. Dancing is a lifetime, equal opportunity sport.<br>And I will never drive by Dave&#x27;s garage again without having the finest feelings for the man and his wife and mother who are inside taking good care of their corner of this world. They&#x27;ve added an important dimension to the lives of the young people of their town — that lightness of being that belongs to dancers.