Happiness consumes...

[fajrdrako]

Happiness consumes itself like a flame. It cannot burn for ever, it must go out, and the presentiment of its end destroys it at its very peak. - August Strindberg, 1849 - 1912

What world did Strindberg live in? It has been my experience that every emotion feels eternal. I can intellectually know that joy or grief won't last forever, but I feel that the state will last forever. This is particularly true of depression - I consider it one of the symptoms.

So I think Strindberg was out to lunch. Or just possibly had a pschological setting very unlike my own.