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.
I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.
If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.
Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower, and draws all good things toward you.
Happiness is a mystery, like religion, and should never be rationalised.
Man is happiest when he is creating. In fact, the highest state of which man is capable lies in the creative act.
Sometimes when you're young, you have moments of such happiness, you think you're living on someplace magical, like Atlantis must have been. Then we grow up and our hearts break into two.
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