Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he thought, lying awake, that is because dull people are sometimes very happy and intelligent people can and do go around making themselves and everyone else miserable. He had never found happiness dull. It always seemed more exciting than any other thing and capable of as great intensity as sorrow to those people who were capable of having it.
Interpretation
Happiness is often misunderstood as dull, but it can be profound and intense, especially among those who truly appreciate it.
In this quote, Ernest Hemingway contrasts the perception of happiness as something mundane with the idea that true happiness can be deeply fulfilling and intense. He suggests that while dull individuals may find contentment in their simplicity, intelligent people often struggle with their emotions, experiencing both joy and sorrow more intensely. Thus, happiness should not be seen as a banal state but as a vibrant and significant aspect of life.
In practice
A motivational speaker could use this quote to highlight the dynamic nature of happiness during a workshop.
He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy. He never dreamed about the boy. He simply woke, looked out the open door at the moon and unrolled his trousers and put them on.
How did you go bankrupt?" Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.
When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.
There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy.
Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.
There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.
Be grateful for what you do have, and you will find it increases. I like to bless with love all that is in my life right now-my home, the heat, water, light, telephone, furniture, plumbing, appliances, clothing, transportation, jobs-the money I do have, friends, my ability to see and feel and taste and touch and walk and to enjoy this incredible planet.
This nice and subtle happiness of reading, this joy not chilled by age, this polite and unpunished vice, this selfish, serene life-long intoxication.
How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. You have a gateway inside you to lands beyond the world you know. They will call you, as you grow.
You must have a cigarette. A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?
Abjure all accretions and turn off the lights. Put on some music - Leonard Cohen, say, perhaps his 'Various Positions' - and let your mind cool down. Soon you'll forget there's a word called 'stress.'
A happy New Year! Grant that I May bring no tear to any eye When this New Year in time shall end Let it be said I've played the friend, Have lived and loved and labored here, And made of it a happy year.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.