My chief study all my life has been to lighten misfortunes and multiply pleasures, as far as human nature can.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the speaker has dedicated their life to alleviating suffering and enhancing joy for humanity.
Mary Wortley Montagu reflects on her life's work and purpose, emphasizing her commitment to reducing the hardships faced by individuals while simultaneously increasing their happiness. This dual focus on both minimizing distress and maximizing joy illustrates a profound understanding of human nature and the pursuit of a fulfilling life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about the importance of positivity, this quote can inspire others to focus on spreading joy.
I regard almost all quarrels of princes on the same footing, and I see nothing that marks man's unreason so positively as war. Indeed, what folly to kill one another for interests often imaginary, and always for the pleasure of persons who do not think themselves even obliged to those who sacrifice themselves for them!
Whoever will cultivate their own mind will find full employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing as exotic fruits and flowers; the vices and passions (which I am afraid are the natural product of the soil) demand perpetual weeding. Add to this the search after knowledge. . . and the longest life is too short.
There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind.
Strictly speaking, there is but one real evil: I mean acute pain. All other complaints are so considerably diminished by time that it is plain the grief is owing to our passion, since the sensation of it vanishes when that is over.
When forced to choose, I will not trade even a night's sleep for the chance of extra profits.
It is not the cares of today, but the cares of tomorrow, that weigh a man down. For the needs of today we have corresponding strength given. For the morrow we are told to trust. It is not ours yet. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear.
Learn to get from the day. Not just get through it, get from it. Soak it up. Each day is a piece of the mosaic of your life.
When I was a young boy, during the aftermath of World War II, Germany was broken and in ruins. Many people were hungry, sick, and dying. I remember well the humanitarian shipments of food and clothing that came from the Church in Salt Lake City.
A child does not try to know the mother, it simply has faith in her. In the same way, having faith in the Divine is the source of the greatest strength.
Itβs a gift to joyfully recognize and accept our own smallness and ordinariness. Then you are free with nothing to live up to, nothing to prove, and nothing to protect. Such freedom is my best description of Christian maturity, because once you know that your βIβ is great and one with God, you can ironically be quite content with a small and ordinary βI.β No grandstanding is necessary. Any question of your own importance or dignity has already been resolved once and for all and forever.
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