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 WeinerRead
[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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness cannot be pursued directly; it is a by-product of living a fulfilling life.
In this quote, Eric Weiner expresses the idea that happiness is not something one can actively chase or attain directly. Instead, it emerges as a natural consequence of engaging in meaningful actions and living well, suggesting that the focus should be on the quality of life and experiences rather than the pursuit of happiness itself.
Themes
HappinessLifeWell-BeingBy-ProductLiving Well
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a seminar about personal development.
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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