I'm wondering about the quote because it took me a few years, with kids, to realize that it's much more important to go out to the park and play with your kids than it is to fuss and argue about "You didn't clean up after yourself . . . We can't go have fun until the mess is cleaned up . . . Did somebody use my sewing scissors? Where are they? . . . Who put this here? You know it belongs there!"
Who cares if the magnifying glass can't be found at a minutes notice . . . it's a beautiful day out there, the wind is kicking up. Let's go fly a kite! 
To me, your quote makes a whole lot of sense . . . so long as you're doing the carpe diem thing instead of sitting around being depressed that your home is in such a state.
The above part of jpcher's post made me think of two things.
1. Your quote about whether constantly picking up makes a life worth (or not worth) living and the idea of enjoying a beautiful day vs. worrying about finding the magnifying glass -- Well, that speaks to Quality of Life. So yes, enjoying the day by going to the park instead of spending it cleaning up is of course, preferable. Chalk one up for Quality of Life. However, spending 20 minutes searching for the magnifying glass and still having a cluttered messy home is not such a great use of time. Minus two for Quality of Life. Minus one for the waste of time and frustration searching, minus one for still having a messy house.
Now, instead, if you'd
previously spent that 20 minutes putting things in order, such that when you needed the magnifying glass you went right to it, that would be a net 0 on Quality of Life. Minus one for the 20 minutes spent cleaning but Plus one for finding your magnifying glass immediately.
So, yeah. It's a pain in the behind to have to keep things picked up and cleaned up. But the net gain makes it worth the effort. Because whether you keep things organized or not, you're still paying a price. My belief (and this is why I reformed) is that the payoff for keeping things organized is higher than it is for letting things get out of control.
2. When my kids were little, it could definitely be a losing battle to find things like scissors which definitely did get left just about anywhere but the right place. Normally, I just kept several pairs around the house in the various places I was most likely to need them. But after several times of finding myself running around the house to five different locations looking for one pair of scissors, I decided to just keep a bunch of pairs in one place. Not as convenient, but there was always at least one pair there. And as I found the others, they were returned to that one place. That way, I just had one place to go instead of five. And
that is what I call, "creative messiness".
I know, I know, it goes against everything I said above. But when your stuff is not in your own control, ya gotta work with that.