Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
Happiness lies not in happiness but only in the attempt to achieve it.
Interpretation
True happiness is found not in the state of being happy, but in the pursuit of it.
Dostoevsky suggests that genuine happiness is not a destination to reach, but rather a journey full of effort and striving. It is the pursuit and the struggle to find happiness that brings fulfillment, rather than merely achieving a state of happiness itself.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage resilience and pursuit of goals.
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
What if, when this fog scatters and flies upward, the whole rotten, slimey city goes with it, rises with the fog and vanishes like smoke.
Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled.
Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.
But do you understand, I cry to him, do you understand that if you have the guillotine in the forefront, and with such glee, it's for the sole reason that cutting heads off is the easiest thing, and having an idea is difficult!
...to return to their 'native soil,' as they say, to the bosom, so to speak, of their mother earth, like frightened children, yearning to fall asleep on the withered bosom of their decrepit mother, and to sleep there for ever, only to escape the horrors that terrify them.
When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness.
Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil - or else an absolute ignorance.
It is said that all people who are happy have God within them.
All right - I'll tell you what you did for me: you went for happy, silly, beautiful walks with me.
Summer time an' the livin' is easy, Fish are jumpin' an' the cotton is high. Oh, yo' daddy's rich, and yo' ma' is good-lookin', So hush, little baby, don' yo' cry.
I think I'm happier, not just because of winning Grammys and selling records, but because it's really fulfilling to have all these things happen with something you love to do.
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