Quote by Christopher Hitchens

If you were offered the chance to live your own life again, would you seize the opportunity? The only real philosophical answer is automatically self-contradictory: 'Only if I did not know that I was doing so.' To go through the entire experience once more would be banal and Sisyphean even if it did build muscle whereas to wish to be young again and to have the benefit of one's learned and acquired existence is not at all to wish for a repeat performance, or a Groundhog Day. And the mind ought to, but cannot, set some limits to wish-thinking. All right, same but with more money, an even sturdier penis, slightly different parents, a briefer latency period the thing is absurd. I seriously would like to know what it was to be a woman, but like blind Tiresias would also want the option of re-metamorphosing if I wished. How terrible it is that we have so many more desires than opportunities.

Summary

This quote reflects on the complex notion of living life again if given the chance. The speaker suggests that the only philosophical answer to this hypothetical is paradoxical: one would only take the opportunity if they were unaware of doing so. Repeating the exact same experience seems tiresome, while desiring youth and wisdom simultaneously does not imply a desire for repetition. The speaker acknowledges the limitations of wishful thinking and absurdity in altering elements of one's existence. The quote also points out the inherent human struggle of having numerous desires but limited opportunities to fulfill them.