"The thing with pretending you're in a good mood is that sometimes you can"
About this Quote
“Pretending you’re in a good mood” is a sly nod to performance: the daily, low-stakes acting job most people take on to keep life moving. Charles de Lint, a writer known for urban fantasy’s humane streak, isn’t praising dishonesty so much as spotlighting a quiet survival tactic. The line sets up a paradox where the fake thing can become the real thing, not through self-delusion but through momentum. Mood, it suggests, isn’t only an inner truth you discover; it’s also something you practice into being.
The sentence fragment does a lot of work. By cutting off at “sometimes you can,” de Lint leaves the reader to complete the thought: sometimes you can make it true, sometimes you can fool yourself, sometimes you can get through the day. That open end is the point. It captures how emotional life actually operates: unfinished, conditional, dependent on context. The optimism here is cautious, not motivational-poster bright. “Sometimes” keeps it honest.
Subtextually, the quote argues for agency in a culture that fetishizes authenticity while punishing visible struggle. It’s permission to use a mask without treating it as moral failure. In de Lint’s fictional worlds, the ordinary and the enchanted overlap; this line carries that same magic-but-practical vibe. The “pretend” becomes a small spell: not a denial of pain, but a temporary bridge over it, a way to borrow tomorrow’s resilience on credit.
The sentence fragment does a lot of work. By cutting off at “sometimes you can,” de Lint leaves the reader to complete the thought: sometimes you can make it true, sometimes you can fool yourself, sometimes you can get through the day. That open end is the point. It captures how emotional life actually operates: unfinished, conditional, dependent on context. The optimism here is cautious, not motivational-poster bright. “Sometimes” keeps it honest.
Subtextually, the quote argues for agency in a culture that fetishizes authenticity while punishing visible struggle. It’s permission to use a mask without treating it as moral failure. In de Lint’s fictional worlds, the ordinary and the enchanted overlap; this line carries that same magic-but-practical vibe. The “pretend” becomes a small spell: not a denial of pain, but a temporary bridge over it, a way to borrow tomorrow’s resilience on credit.
Quote Details
| Topic | Happiness |
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