QuoteProject
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.
Eric Weiner
ShareWTF𝕏

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

[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
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

Similar quotes

The key to human happiness lies within our own state of mind, and so too do the primary obstacles to that happiness.
Dalai LamaRead
Happiness isn't a fortune in a cookie. It's deeper, wider, funnier, and more transporting than that.
Elvis CostelloRead
That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings.
John RuskinRead
Joy comes not through possession or ownership but through a wise and loving heart.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Our rural ancestors, with little blest, Patient of labor when the end was rest, Indulged the day that housed their annual grain, With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain.
Alexander PopeRead
If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.
AristotleRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.