A Polygon writer revisits Bill Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" to identify the strip's best quote on the meaning of life, marking 34 years since it first appeared. The exercise matters as a piece of cultural reflection, showing how a children's comic strip could carry genuine philosophical weight and continues to resonate with readers decades after its 1995 conclusion.

The author considers several candidates, including Calvin's grief-stricken lines from the 1987 "Baby Raccoon Story" and reflections on friendship and stargazing, before settling on a 1992 Sunday strip in which Calvin questions why humans evolved a sense of humour. Hobbes's reply — "I suppose if we couldn't laugh at things that don't make sense, we couldn't react to a lot of life" — is chosen as the definitive quote, praised for balancing optimism and sadness while addressing life's absurdity.