“Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.”

“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. ”

“Happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative.”

“Happiness is never there to stay [...] Happiness is merely a respite offered by inquietude.”

“The "supreme good" and its attainment -- that is happiness. And joy is: response to happiness.”

There is not a “true” happiness and a “false” happiness. Only happiness and meaning. The key to happiness is to realize that it is not the same thing as meaning.  The key to meaning is to realize that it is to be found neither in the pursuit, nor in the denial, of happiness. Happiness speaks to our health, meaning to our hope. The former provides for the necessities of life, the latter a reason for living… Happiness is the consequence of properly loving ourselves. Meaning is the consequence of loving others as ourselves.

I had always been taught that the pursuit of happiness was my natural (even national) birthright. It is the emotional trademark of my culture to seek happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, either, but profound happiness, even soaring happiness. And what could possibly bring a person more soaring happiness than romantic love.

“I had always been taught that the pursuit of happiness was my natural (even national) birthright. It is the emotional trademark of my culture to seek happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, either, but profound happiness, even soaring happiness. And what could possibly bring a person more soaring happiness than romantic love.”

“Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain.”

To be happy in absolute terms, along with our happiness, all the world must be happy so that we don’t have to worry for anyone!