I Wish, Life Was Not So Short

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam

8 January 2026

" I wish life was not so short, he thought. Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about."

J R R Tolkien

I love languages and always feel that one lifetime is woefully inadequate to learn and master a language as linguists and philologists are of the view that even 1000 years are not enough to understand a language in and out. So, J R R Tolkien's aforementioned quote always fascinates me. In this quote by J R R Tolkien, the protagonist, Alboin Errol, expresses a simple yet profound contemplation on the brevity of life and the vastness of knowledge. The sentiment of longing for more time to delve into languages and explore various subjects echoes the universal yearning for a longer lifespan. Tolkien recognizes that languages and the pursuit of knowledge require substantial time and dedication. He highlights the inherent limitation of human existence, implying a longing for an extension of time to satisfy insatiable curiosity and unravel the mysteries of the world. It serves as a reminder that the brevity of life can sometimes hinder our endless desire to learn and explore.

There's a famous phrase in Latin: Ars Longa, Vita Brevis (Art is long, life is short). Shelley, Keats and Byron would have been able to augment their already magnificent corpus of poetry had they lived longer. They passed away at the age of 27, 26 and 36 respectively.

Any profound piece of creativity takes a pretty long time in its completion, whether it's Taj Mahal or the great literary work 'Shahnama' in Persian, written by Firdausi. Taj Mahal took 22 years and Firdausi spent 33 years writing his masterpiece which has a very high place in the annals of world literature. K Asif's Mughal-e-Azam, the epic Hindi-Urdu film, took an exceptionally long time to complete, spanning about 15 to 16 years. Needless to say, it's still a milestone in the history of Hindi cinema.

The great Maratha scholar Setu Madhavrao Pagdi spent 65 years in learning the nuances of his mother tongue Marathi and Persian's influence on it and ruefully declared in the end that his knowledge of both the languages was not of the highest level!

A language takes the longest time to learn, let alone, master it. In my own case, I've realized that I still fumble and falter when it comes to classical and ancient Persian despite Persian being my mother tongue and I can think only in it (Persian). While I know a few other languages as well, my knowledge of those languages is not even superficial. Mind you, it ain't 'reverse modesty.' I still write and speak English like a greenhorn. I prefer to converse only in Urdu but even my Urdu is not spontaneous Hindustani-Urdu because it's loaded with highfalutin Persian, Arabic and Turkish words. This is not to flaunt my mastery of Urdu. I've not been able to come out of my cocoon of Persian and even that too, I don't know completely and masterfully!

Language and genuine creativity take a whole lifetime. Yet, it's an uphill task to master them. Human life is too short for enriching and nurturing all things that require time and patience. The concept of memento mori (“remember you've to die ") emphasizes living intentionally because time is short and life is iffy. Throughout history, other thinkers have grappled with the same feeling that life is too short for our ambitions. Frank Zappa famously summarized the intellectual dilemma as: " So many books, so little time." Victor Hugo observed that we shorten our lives through the " careless waste of time."

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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.

URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/wish-life-was-not-short/d/138351

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