The greatest obstacle to pleasure is not pain; it is delusion.
Interpretation
Delusion prevents us from experiencing true pleasure, more than any pain could.
This quote by Stephen Greenblatt emphasizes that the ability to enjoy life and find happiness is often hindered not by external hardships or pain, but rather by our misconceptions and misunderstandings—our delusions. It suggests that recognizing and confronting these delusions is essential for achieving true pleasure and satisfaction in life.
In practice
This quote could be used in a talk about mental health to illustrate how self-deception prevents happiness.
I've been at this for 40 years. And, as an academic, I've been content with relatively small audiences, with the thought that the audience I long for will find its way eventually to what I have written, provided that what I have written is good enough.
What I wanted to do was to get that sense of being in touch with this lost world while holding onto what draws readers and audiences there in the first place.
What matters here are the works - finally without them his life would be uninteresting. What matters, that is, are the astonishing things that he left behind. If we can get the life in relation to the works, then it can take off.
The exercise of reason is not available only to specialists; it is accessible to everyone.
Compared to the unleashed forces of warfare and of faith, Mount Vesuvius was kinder to the legacy of antiquity.
I believe in broken, fractured, complicated narratives, but I believe in narratives as a vehicle for truth, not simply as a form of entertainment, though I love entertainment, but also a way of conveying what needs to be conveyed about the works that I care about.
We are too apt to love praise, but not to deserve it.
Perhaps a child who is fussed over gets a feeling of destiny; he thinks he is the world for something important, and it gives him drive and confidence.
I read somewhere, one, that crying defies scientific explanation. Tears are only meant to lubricate the eyes. There is no real reason for tear glands to overproduce tears at the behest of emotion. I think we cry to release the animal parts of us without losing our humanity. Because inside of me is a beast that snarls, and growls, and strains toward freedom, toward Tobias, and, above all, towards life. And as hard as I try, I cannot kill it.
Too much work and too much energy kill a man just as effectively as too much assorted vice or too much drink.
Practice sharing the fullness of your being, your best self, your enthusiasm, your vitality, your spirit, your trust, your openness, above all, your presence. Share it with yourself, with your family, with the world.
While we are making up our minds as to when we shall begin, the opportunity is lost.
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