Life's Pleasures Quote by Joyce Brothers

A shopping cart on credit is a socially acceptable bender, and Joyce Brothers knows exactly why that metaphor lands. “The buzz happens immediately” isn’t just a cute comparison; it’s a clinician’s shorthand for reinforcement. Credit turns desire into instant relief: you get the object, the status, the sense of control, without the pain of paying. That separation is the point. The brain registers reward now, cost later, and “gives you a lift” captures the emotional payoff that advertising rarely admits out loud: spending is mood management.

The “hangover” is where Brothers’ subtext sharpens. She’s not moralizing about bad people making bad choices; she’s describing a predictable after-effect when consequences are delayed and diffuse. Interest, late fees, and minimum payments don’t just drain money, they drain future agency. You wake up to yesterday’s decision, only now it’s multiplied, and the bill arrives with its own shame spiral. Calling it “the day after” also hints at denial: the party always feels like it can last one more night, right up until the morning.

Context matters: Brothers built a public-facing psychology that translated therapy-speak into kitchen-table clarity. In a late-20th-century America that normalized revolving debt as lifestyle fuel, she smuggles a behavioral warning into a familiar sensation. Credit isn’t framed as a financial instrument; it’s framed as a substance - easy, legal, and designed to make tomorrow pay for today.