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Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing.
William Butler Yeats
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Happiness comes from personal growth rather than external pleasures or virtues.

In this quote, William Butler Yeats suggests that true happiness is not found in fleeting pleasures, moral virtues, or particular achievements. Instead, he emphasizes that it stems from continuous growth and development as individuals. This perspective encourages a focus on self-improvement and personal evolution as the key to achieving lasting joy.

Themes

HappinessGrowthSelf-ImprovementPersonal Development

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be shared during motivational speeches about personal growth.

More from William Butler Yeats

If a poet interprets a poem of his own he limits its suggestibility.
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It was my first meeting with a philosophy that confirmed my vague speculations and seemed at once logical and boundless.
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But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
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How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart.
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For he would be thinking of love Till the stars had run away And the shadows eaten the moon.
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Love is created and preserved by intellectual analysis, for we love only that which is unique, and it belongs to contemplation, not to action, for we would not change that which we love.
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