Reading glasses rest on an open book atop a small stack of worn books beside a vase of dried stems.

Original artwork, not a still

Bertrand Russell

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker claims that people would rather die than think, then adds that most do. The second clause gives the exaggeration a bleak double meaning: people eventually die, often without having done much thinking. The joke directs its scorn at a lifetime of avoiding mental effort.

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