The Giver of life gave it for happiness and not for wretchedness.
Interpretation
Life is a gift meant to be enjoyed, not endured in misery.
Thomas Jefferson's quote emphasizes the inherent value of life as a source of happiness. It suggests that our existence is intended for joy and fulfillment, rather than suffering and despair. The phrase serves as a reminder to appreciate the positive aspects of life and to seek happiness as a fundamental purpose of our being.
In practice
Quote this during a motivational talk about the importance of pursuing joy in life.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
βWe must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.
I could see no reason for being sad. ItΒ΄s just that it makes me unhappy not to feel happy.
I'm trying to broaden the scope of positive psychology well beyond the smiley face. Happiness is just one-fifth of what human beings choose to do.
Know then this truth, enough for man to know virtue alone is happiness below.
A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides in imaginative reflection and judgment, when the picture of one's life, or of human life, as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted.
I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.
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