"The Greeks said grandly in their tragic phrase, 'Let no one be called happy till his death;' to which I would add, 'Let no one, till his death, be called unhappy.'"

This quote by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a reflection on the concept of happiness and how it is frequently only really understood after an individual's death. The Greeks had a terrible expression that no one need to be called pleased up until their death, and Browning adds to this by stating that nobody ought to be called unhappy till their death either. This recommends that we can never ever genuinely know the complete level of an individual's life until they have actually died. It is just then that we can recall and see the complete photo of their life and how it was lived. Browning's quote is a reminder that we ought to not judge a person's life till it is over, as we can never ever know the complete story until then.