How to Read “Whether you live crying or live laughing, it’s one lifetime”
Naite kurasu mo isshō, waratte kurasu mo isshō
Meaning of “Whether you live crying or live laughing, it’s one lifetime”
This proverb means that since you only live one life anyway, you should live happily and positively rather than spending your days in sadness. The length of your life doesn’t change whether you cry or laugh.
If you’re going to spend the same amount of time either way, living with a smile is better for both yourself and the people around you. That’s the lesson this proverb teaches.
People use this proverb to encourage someone facing difficult situations or feeling down about their worries. Sometimes people also say it to themselves as a way to shift their mindset.
By showing that you have a choice in how to live, this saying helps people regain a positive attitude.
Even in modern society, people widely understand this as a message about the importance of your mental attitude, especially for those dealing with stress and worries.
Origin and Etymology
There don’t seem to be clear records about the exact origin or first appearance of this proverb. However, we can think about how it came to be based on its structure and Japanese cultural background.
The structure places two contrasting expressions side by side: “live crying” and “live laughing.” It emphasizes that both equal the same length of time, “one lifetime.”
This pattern is very characteristic of traditional Japanese teaching songs and oral culture that passed down common wisdom. People likely passed it down among ordinary citizens from the Edo period through the Meiji period as practical life wisdom.
You can also see the influence of Buddhist thought behind this expression. The idea that life’s joys and sorrows change depending on your state of mind connects to Zen teachings.
It also shares a spiritual quality with the optimistic life philosophy that grew in Edo period townspeople culture, like the saying “don’t keep money overnight.”
This phrase shows you have freedom of choice about how to spend your time. Perhaps it expressed the small resistance and hope of common people during strict class systems.
Even in harsh reality, they could still choose their own state of mind. You could say this phrase captures the Japanese spirit of trying to live positively even in difficult circumstances.
Usage Examples
- I was depressed after a breakup, but whether you live crying or live laughing, it’s one lifetime, so I decided to look forward and start walking again
- If we’re going to spend the same time anyway, whether you live crying or live laughing, it’s one lifetime, so let’s find something enjoyable
Universal Wisdom
This proverb has been passed down for so long because it touches on an essential human truth. We are all given a limited amount of time called life.
The length of that time doesn’t change whether we feel joy or sadness. Yet humans have a mysterious power to perceive the same event as either tragedy or comedy.
When people suffer, they tend to get swallowed up by that suffering. Their perspective narrows, and the whole world seems dark.
But if you step back and think about it, the time you spend in suffering and the time you spend smiling are both equally part of your life. This realization might be the greatest freedom given to humans.
Even if you can’t change your external situation, you can choose how to receive it. That’s freedom.
Our ancestors understood that this freedom of choice is human dignity itself. No matter how harsh your environment, no one can take away your state of mind.
This truth was probably understood more urgently in times when external constraints like class systems and poverty were common.
This proverb continues to convey a powerful message: the control of your life is always in your own hands.
When AI Hears This
The calories a human consumes in one day are about 2000 kilocalories, roughly the same whether you spend it crying or laughing. In terms of physical energy consumption, both ways of living are thermodynamically equivalent.
The entire universe always moves toward increasing entropy, or disorder. Our bodies are no exception. We break down food, release heat, and eventually face death. No one can escape this physical law.
What’s interesting, though, is that while using the same energy, you can create completely different chemical states in your brain. When you laugh, serotonin and dopamine are released, and your brain’s neural networks become orderly.
On the other hand, when you keep crying, cortisol increases, and neural circuits tend to fall into confused states. You’re consuming the same physical energy, yet the degree of order in the local system called the brain differs greatly.
This isn’t an important exception to the second law of thermodynamics. Rather, it shows its essence. While disorder continues to increase in the universe as a whole, you can create order locally.
However, this requires using energy in a way called “choice.” If you’re going to use the same fuel, will you use it to create order in your brain, or will you leave confusion unchecked?
The fact that this choice exists is itself one of the few freedoms given to humans within physical laws.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches modern people is that the quality of life is determined by internal choices, not external conditions. Time spent comparing yourself to others on social media and feeling down passes by just like time spent finding small joys and smiling.
Time spent regretting past failures or worrying about the future passes the same way too.
In modern society, we tend to overreact to small failures and imperfections because we seek perfection. However, this proverb teaches the wisdom of finding enjoyment in your current situation rather than waiting for perfect conditions.
When you wake up in the morning, on the commuter train, during work breaks, which face will you choose: crying or smiling?
What’s important is that this choice is in your hands every day, every moment. It’s not that once you choose, you can’t change. You can start living a lifetime of laughter from this very moment.
This is definitely not escapism. It’s the wisest choice for living your limited life to the fullest.
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