Paradoxically, perhaps, there seems nothing enduring to be...

Paradoxically, perhaps, there seems nothing enduring to be gained in terms of meaningful life change purely from leisure, from having a great time. If you or I could redesign the world we'd certainly do it very differently, so that every time we took a magic vacation at some tropical paradise we would return full of more wisdom than the World Encyclopedia of Philosophical Quotations. Until then, we are well advised to accept the reality that the great lessons in life usually come to us through some form of extreme hardship.