Ah, Ben Jonson it seems, Max. I stand corrected.
On "Speaking Cohen" one can find 3 interviews with mentions of such inflexible cheerfulness, all from 1992-1993.
JONSON & JOHNSON
Leonard Cohen and the Death of Cool by David Sprague
(Your Flesh, 1992)
When things get truly desperate, you start laughing...you experience what it really means to crack up...I remember what Ben Jonson said: "I've studied all the philosophies and all the theologies but cheerfulness keeps breaking through."(Laughs) I've read that as you approach middle age, the brain cells associated with anxiety start to die--so it doesn't matter whether you go to church every Sunday or do your yoga or whatever, you'll start to feel better about yourself.
Bill
On 01/08/2013, at 7:49 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Cohen, quoting whom? -
>
> "As the man who wanted to be a philosopher said to Dr Johnson, 'Cheerfulness keeps breaking through.' " -
>
> is one I find, so maybe it's in Boswell's s Life of J?
>
> On 01/08/2013, at 7:30 AM, Bill Wootton wrote:
>
>> Leonard Cohen said it, Max.
>>
>> On 01/08/2013, at 6:18 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> In all this, Doug, we seem to be alike.
>>>
>>> I think this piece was meant to sound cocky and complacent at first, uncaringly unimaginative and unsympathetic to insomniacs, then overturned by misgivings.
>>> Others near me have been death-haunted from early youth, and they always make me feel thoughtless about what's most serious…
>>> Who said 'cheerfulness keeps breaking in'?
>>>
>>> Max
>>> On 01/08/2013, at 1:27 AM, Douglas Barbour wrote:
>>>
>>>> I tend to fall asleep easily too, Max. But never managed anything so thoughtful when waking, those moments during the night...
>>>>
>>>> And still manage to avoid thinking much about the end...
>>>>
>>>> Hmmnnn....
>>>>
>>>> Doug
>
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