proverb · Words worth keeping
A merry life forgets father and mother.
A merry life forgets father and mother.
In print by 1857 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Enjoyment can absorb attention so completely that important family relationships are neglected. The warning concerns forgotten obligations, without making pleasure or independence inherently wrong.
What the words are saying
The merry life becomes a distraction from people who once occupied an important place in it. Father and mother supply the source’s particular family image. A useful reading asks whether new pleasures have crowded out a relationship or responsibility that a person still values. Enjoyment need not involve forgetting anyone, and an adult’s independence does not require constant availability. Decide what care, contact or boundary fits the actual relationship. The proverb can prompt attention to neglect, but cannot settle every family disagreement or impose unconditional access.
Everyday example
Someone enjoying a busy social month makes time for an agreed call to a parent rather than repeatedly forgetting it.
When to use it
Use it to reflect on relationships displaced by a pleasurable routine.
What it does not mean
Family contact must account for safety and reasonable boundaries; the saying does not justify guilt or coercion.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional (French-language collection)
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1857 AD · industrial
In print by 1857: recorded in A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857) (1857 AD)
Printed page 28; French section, paragraph 551; source wording: Joyeuse vie père et mère oublie.
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.