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.
If you equate happiness with success, you will never achieve the amount of success necessary to make you happy.
Oh, how desperately bored, in spite of their grim determination to have a Good Time, the majority of pleasure-seekers really are!
These days, in our materialistic culture, many people are led to believe that money is the ultimate source of happiness. Consequently, when they donβt have enough of it they feel let down. Therefore, it is important to let people know that they have the source of contentment and happiness within themselves, and that it is related to nurturing our natural inner values.
When your feeling down, do you know you can change it, like that. Put on a beautiful piece of music, start singing, that will change your emotion - or think of something beautiful, think of a baby, maybe one you love, really keep that thought in your mind, block out everything but that thought. I guarantee you'll start to feel good.
The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather in spite of ourselves.
May I a small house and large garden have; And a few friends, And many books, both true.
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