It could be Asian thing (I'm Asian), but there's a saying, "Money can't buy happiness, but it sure hell better crying inside my BMW than crying outside by the street."
"Money can't buy happiness, but you can distract yourself with consuming luxury goods" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
These types of quotes tire me (and ones like it, "have you ever seen anyone sad on a Jet ski?"). They ignore the very real human condition of yearning for meaning from existence. Pretending like this can be solved with symbols of status and consumption is misguided.
I think you're taking the example too far. Money can't guarantee happiness, but it's much easier to be happy when you don't have to constantly worry about how you're going to pay your next bill or if you'll lose your home if you get sick.
I think this saying illustrates the point better: “money is like toilet paper, you don’t want to run out but after a point more wont make a difference”
Studies show that, up to a point, money actually can buy happiness. But more money doesn't automatically equate to more happiness.
People who are middle class are more happy than people who are dirt poor. Rich people aren't necessarily any happier than middle class people, but both are, in the aggregate, happier than poor people struggling to survive.
My grand father, born and raised in Western Europe, never left the continent, fought in WWII, etc., used to say that money can't buy happiness but it sure helps in getting it.
What are your thoughts on the (in my experience more common) phrase: "I would rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle"? When I really consider this phrase it brings tears to my eyes.
I'm biased, I prefer (nice) bicycles than (nice) cars. Not because it's healthier, but because I don't like to be stuck in traffic. -- Again, living in overpopulated Asian country.
Reminds me of the short story "The Adopted Son" by Guy de Maupassant.
> Then the boy said, roughly: "I'd rather not have been born than be what I am. When I saw the other, my heart stood still. I said to myself: 'See what I should have been now!'" He got up: "See here, I feel that I would do better not to stay here, because I would throw it up to you from morning till night, and I would make your life miserable. I'll never forgive you for that!"
I guess it depends on the society you live in. In our ultra materialistic and capitalistic societies, most likely. But look at the proverbial amazon tribe or even nuns. I’d say most of them seem happy and yet they are poor as dirt by our standards.
These types of quotes tire me (and ones like it, "have you ever seen anyone sad on a Jet ski?"). They ignore the very real human condition of yearning for meaning from existence. Pretending like this can be solved with symbols of status and consumption is misguided.