If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. — J.R.R. Tolkien

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Insight: We're living in an age of unprecedented abundance, yet most of us feel like we're running on fumes. The irony is that Tolkien's observation about hoarding gold still holds true, except now it's not just money we're stacking up—it's accomplishments, credentials, experiences to post online, and the constant pressure to optimize every corner of our lives. We've somehow convinced ourselves that more will finally make us feel complete, even as we watch our gatherings get smaller and our screens get bigger. The real insight here isn't that money is evil or that we should all become ascetics. It's that the things that actually make life feel full—a meal shared with people we like, music, laughter, time that has no productive purpose—cost almost nothing. Yet we treat them as luxuries to squeeze in after we've earned them, instead of as the actual point of having a life at all. A merrier world might simply be one where we stopped postponing the good stuff until retirement, and started treating simple togetherness as the real prize.

Source: The Hobbit, p. 91, 1937