The happiest moments my heart knows are those in which it is pouring forth its affections to a few esteemed characters.
Interpretation
True happiness is found in expressing affection toward those we cherish.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes that the moments we feel the most joy often come from deep connections and affections shared with a select few individuals we hold in high regard. It reflects the belief that genuine happiness is rooted in the quality of our relationships rather than the quantity of our interactions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a wedding speech to highlight the importance of love and connection.
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.
Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.
Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness.
The belief that we can rely on shortcuts to happiness, joy, rapture, comfort, and ecstasy, rather than be entitled to these feelings by the exercise of personal strengths and virtues, leads to legions of people who, in the middle of great wealth, are starving spiritually.
Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.
Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.
Happiness comes to those who are moving toward something they want very much to happen. And it almost always involves making someone else happy.
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