“Most important things in life are a hassle. If life’s hassles disappeared, you’d want them back.” — Hayao Miyazaki

@manton clearly this proverb was lost in translation.

@manton This is 100% true. The problem is that many totally trivial and pointless things are a hassle too, and sometimes I don't have the wisdom to tell them apart.

@manton I wonder if “are a hassle” could be better translated as “have friction.” I think it would fit and flow better.

@splinter I haven't looked for the original Japanese (and despite a couple classes in college I can't read it) but that would be interesting to see if multiple interpretations would fit.

@mmetcalfe Yeah, my reading of it is less the trivial and pointless things, but the big hassles, like work. 🙂

@clonezone Interesting, that's a totally different takeaway than I have from the quote. I can see that perspective too, though.

@manton I'd like to read it in Japanese. I can see from other reactions that "hassle" is a difficult term, and that is interesting in itself.

@mmetcalfe It is from a four part documentary about his working process. A fuller version:

“It's the ultimate hassle, I'm telling you. But if you said, ‘Why don't you quit?’, I'd just say, ‘Shut up.’ Most important things in life are a hassle. If life's hassles disappeared, you'd want them back.”

@Dunk Thanks for the link to the source