Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy, but it's very funny - Did you ever try buying them wi... — Ogden Nash

Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy, but it's very funny - Did you ever try buying them without money?

Author: Ogden Nash

Insight: There's a peculiar blindness we develop around money. We like to talk about how it can't buy happiness, or love, or a good night's sleep—and that's all true. But then we go through life as though those things are just floating around free for the taking, available to anyone willing to want them badly enough. Nash cuts through that with a laugh, because the joke lands: try getting a decent education, quality healthcare, or even just a safe neighborhood without it. This doesn't mean money buys happiness—plenty of wealthy people are miserable. But pretending money doesn't matter is a luxury that only people with enough money can afford. It's easy to wax poetic about simple pleasures when you're not choosing between medication and rent. The things money supposedly can't buy often require money just to access in the first place. A therapist can't help you without being paid. Time with family means less if you're working three jobs. Even personal growth—reading, travel, mentorship—usually has a price tag attached. The real insight isn't that money solves everything. It's that acknowledging money's very real power is actually more honest than pretending we're above it. And that honesty might be the first step toward using it more wisely.

Source: The Bad Parents' Garden of Verse, p. 50, 1936