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As the title says, what is the origin of the phrase "Life is too short to ..." used with things conventionally expected, but which you do not want to do?

Example: Life is too short to find a pair of matching socks.

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Undoubtedly someone mumbled that a few thousand years ago while in the throes of a mead-induced hangover. Probably some Stonehenge salaryman on his way out the cave door to galumph after a Spotted Dick Puddingosaurus. – Bill Franke Jan 17 at 8:08
@Downvoter Please explain why the downvote? – Deidara-senpai Jan 17 at 11:42
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I'm not the downvoter, but there are a few possibilities. There seem to be some users here who take pleasure in downvoting for no reason at all: maybe they don't like your avatar or user name. They never explain. Others will downvote because they don't think your question is interesting enough for them. They usually don't explain. Still others will see no evidence of your research on the topic before asking. They frequently explain and identify themselves, but not always. There are yet others who think such questions are silly. They never explain or own up. Don't ask, don't tell. – Bill Franke Jan 17 at 11:50
Never mind, just curious to know. I don't care much about the reputation. Thanks for the nice explanation. :) – Deidara-senpai Jan 17 at 12:06

2 Answers

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The OED’s earliest citation illustrating life is too short is from the seventeenth century, and in 1686 ‘For life's too short for Pleasure’ appeared. The earliest citation using the words life is too short to is from 1741: ‘Life is too short, and Time is too precious, to read every new Book quite over in order to find that it is not worth the reading.’ One of its more memorable incarnations is in Thomas Love Peacock’s ‘Life is too short to learn German’.

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Google Books has the phrase used by Jonathan Swift in 1711 (published in 1765):

Being convinced by certain ominous prognostics that my life is too short to permit me the honour of ever dining another Saturday with Sir Simon Harcourt...

It would appear the OED may need to revise its citations.

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Careless reading on my part. Answer now amended to show the earliest citation dated 1741. This postdates the composition of Swift’s sentence, but predates its publication, and publication seems to be what the OED goes by. We can, of course, usually assume that a word or expression was in use before the OED's earliest citation. The dictionary has strict, some might say idiosyncratic, criteria for inclusion. – Barrie England Jan 17 at 8:24

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