Happiness is good health and a bad memory.

The line reduces “happiness” to two practical conditions: physical well-being and the ability to let go. “Good health” points to the bodily foundation that makes pleasure, work, and relationships possible; without it, even favorable circumstances can feel bleak. “A bad memory” is a wry way of praising selective forgetting—dropping grudges, disappointments, and embarrassments rather than rehearsing them. The humor lies in treating a cognitive flaw as a virtue: happiness may depend less on perfect recall or constant self-scrutiny than on resilience and emotional economy. Read this way, the quote champions a pragmatic, unsentimental approach to contentment.

“Happiness is good health and a bad memory.”
“Happiness is good health and a poor memory.”
“Happiness is good health and a short memory.”