Live, Laugh, Love

For other uses, see Live, Laugh, Love (disambiguation).

"Live, Laugh, Love" is an alliterative, motivational three-word phrase that became a popular slogan on motivational posters and home decor in the late 2000s and early 2010s. By extension, the saying has also become pejoratively associated with a style of "basic" Generation X^[1] decor and with what Vice described as "speaking-to-the-manager shallowness".^[2]

A decorative key holder bearing the phrase, from 2012.

The phrase is an abridged form^[3] of the 1904 poem "Success" by Bessie Anderson Stanley which begins:

He achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much

This phrase was subsequently popularized by Ann Landers^{[failed verification]} and a 1990 Dear Abby column, where it was misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson.^[3][4]

2010s merchandise

A small container bearing the slogan

"Live, Laugh, Love" and variants on the phrase have appeared on framed posters, wall decals, ornaments, cushions, mugs, bed linen, jewellery and even on coffins.^[3][4] The Live Love Laugh Foundation, a mental health organization in India founded by Deepika Padukone, takes its name from the phrase.

Vice noted that the trend had largely passed by 2020.^[2] Google Trends shows that searches for the phrase peaked between 2009 and 2014 in the United States, falling in popularity since then.^[5]

See also

• Keep Calm and Carry On, another motivational phrase, originally from World War II in Britain, that became popular around the same time.