Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad.
Interpretation
It's better to let go of painful memories and find joy than to dwell on them and feel sad.
This quote by Christina Rossetti emphasizes the importance of focusing on happiness rather than holding onto painful memories. It suggests that forgetting past sorrows can lead to a more fulfilling and joyful life, encouraging us to choose positivity over sadness.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage positivity in a community event.
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet: And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply I may forget.
We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed Their hungry thirsty roots?
To her whose heart is my heart's quiet home,_x000D_ _x000D_ To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee_x000D_ _x000D_ I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome.
Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live My very life again though cold in death; Come back to me in dreams, that I may give Pulse for pulse, breath for breath: Speak low, lean low, As long ago, my love, how long ago
Lie still, lie still, my breaking heart; My silent heart, lie still and break: Life, and the world, and mine own self, are changed For a dream's sake.
I lock my door upon myself, And bar them out; but who shall wall Self from myself, most loathed of all?
Happiness lies in virtuous activity, and perfect happiness lies in the best activity, which is contemplative
Beauty is being the best possible version of yourself, inside and out.
It is with happiness as with watches: the less complicated, the less easily deranged.
The good life consists in deriving happiness by using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of living. The meaningful life adds one more component: using these same strengths to forward knowledge, power, or goodness. A life that does this is pregnant with meaning, and if God comes at the end, such a life is sacred.
The secret to happiness, of course, is not getting what you want; it's wanting what you get.
Happiness is the feeling that power increases - that resistance is being overcome.
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