I feel an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, to increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep commitment to spreading joy and positivity throughout life.
Charles Dickens articulates a profound aspiration to enhance the overall happiness and cheerfulness in the world. His dedication to this noble cause reflects a universal truth about the importance of fostering joy among people, suggesting that the act of spreading positivity is not only meaningful but also a lifelong endeavor.
In practice
In a speech at a charity event, one might say, 'As Charles Dickens once expressed, I feel an earnest and humble desire to increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness among us.'
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.
I've spent most of my life trying to think my way to happiness, and my failure to achieve that goal only proves, in my mind, that I am not a good enough thinker. It never occurred to me that the source of my unhappiness is not flawed thinking but thinking itself.
I feel nothing but the accursed happiness I have dreaded all my life long: the happiness that comes as life goes, the happiness of yielding and dreaming instead of resisting and doing, the sweetness of the fruit that is going rotten.
Of mortals there is no one who is happy. If wealth flows in upon one, one may be perhaps luckier than one's neighbor, but still not happy.
The way to healthy living is to shift from quantitative economic growth to quality of life, food, water and air - to shift from craving to contentment and from greed to gratitude
Joy is a marvelous increasing of what exists, a pure addition out of nothingness.
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