The phrase “it’s one of god’s best jokes that you can’t die” is often used to express the frustration and absurdity of the human condition. The idea is that life is full of suffering and disappointment, and the fact that we can’t escape it through death is a cruel joke.
This phrase has been used in literature and philosophy for centuries. In Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet,” the protagonist famously contemplates suicide, but ultimately decides that “the undiscover’d country from whose bourn/No traveler returns” is too terrifying to risk. In the 19th century, the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer argued that life is essentially a cycle of suffering and desire, and that the only way to escape it is through death.