[Happiness is] a ghost, it’s a shadow. You can’t really chase it. It’s a by-product, a very pleasant side effect to a life lived well.
Eric WeinerRead
Our happiness is completely and utterly intertwined with other people: family and friends and neighbors and the woman you hardly notice who cleans your office. Happiness is not a noun or verb. It's a conjunction. Connective tissue.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness is deeply connected to our relationships with others and is not an isolated feeling.
In this quote, Eric Weiner emphasizes that happiness is not a solitary concept, but rather a complex web of connections with the people around us. He suggests that our joy and satisfaction in life are intricately linked to our interactions and relationships with family, friends, and even those we might overlook in our daily lives. Happiness, he argues, is akin to a conjunction that binds us to others, illustrating that our emotional well-being depends on our social bonds and the appreciation of those who contribute to our lives.
Themes
HappinessRelationshipsConnectionsPeopleSocial
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of relationships.
More from Eric Weiner
All quotes →I've spent most of my life trying to think my way to happiness, and my failure to achieve that goal only proves, in my mind, that I am not a good enough thinker. It never occurred to me that the source of my unhappiness is not flawed thinking but thinking itself.
Eric WeinerRead
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