Curiosity Kills One’s Will To Live

VictoriaI would earnestly warn you against trying to find out the reason and explanation for everything… To try to find out the reason for everything is very dangerous and leads to nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction, unsettling your mind and in the end making you miserable. 1

We ourselves have suffered greatly. Our son Bertie has been a great disappointment. As we have said before: handsome I cannot think him, with that painfully small and narrow head, those immense features and total want of chin.2 We were of the belief that the distillation of royal qualities, ensured by the marriage of first cousins, would have produced a truly fine specimen. We choose not to wonder why we have been so abused by fate. Questions unasked need not be answered.

And so, by strength of character and a discerning mind, we are quite content. In truth, we are consummately giddy with our lack of curiosity.


[1] From a letter to her granddaughter in 1883.
[2] An excerpt from Jane Ridley’s Bertie: A Life of Edward VII, found on BBC News.

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About Frank Moraes

Frank Moraes is a freelance writer and editor online and in print. He is educated as a scientist with a PhD in Atmospheric Physics. He has worked in climate science, remote sensing, throughout the computer industry, and as a college physics instructor. Find out more at About Frank Moraes.

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