QuoteProject
Happiness presents itself to man, wearing the crown of sorrow on its head. He who welcomes it must also welcome sorrow.
Swami Vivekananda
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

True happiness can only be appreciated when one also experiences sorrow.

This quote by Swami Vivekananda emphasizes the duality of emotions, suggesting that happiness is not a standalone feeling but rather intertwined with sorrow. It implies that to fully embrace joy in life, one must also accept and understand the pain that accompanies it, as both emotions are integral to the human experience.

Themes

HappinessSorrowDualityEmotionsExperience

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about resilience, to emphasize that overcoming challenges leads to greater joy.

More from Swami Vivekananda

Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Rama, the ancient idol of the heroic ages, the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband, and above all, the ideal king, this Rama has been presented before us by the great sage Valmiki. No language can be purer, none chaster, none more beautiful, and at the same time simpler, than the language in which the great poet has depicted the life of Rama.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Hinduism threw away Buddhism after taking its sap. The attempt of all the Southern Acharyas was to effect a reconciliation between the two. Shankaracharya's teaching shows the influence of Buddhism. His disciples perverted his teaching and carried it to such an extreme point that some of the later reformers were right in calling the Acharya's followers "crypto-buddhists".
Swami VivekanandaRead
According to the law of nature, wherever there is an awakening of a new and stronger life, there it tries to conquer and take the place of the old and the decaying. Nature favours the dying out of the unfit and the survival of the fittest. The final result of such conflict between the priestly and the other classes has been mentioned already.
Swami VivekanandaRead
I have come to deal with principles. I have only to preach that God comes again and again, and that He came in India as Krishna, Rama, and Buddha, and that He will come again. It can almost be demonstrated that after each 500 years the world sinks, and a tremendous spiritual wave comes, and on the top of the wave is a Christ.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Salvation means knowing the truth. We do not become anything; we are what we are. Salvation [comes] by faith and not by work. It is a question of knowledge! You must know what you are, and it is done. The dream vanishes. This you [and others] are dreaming here. When they die, they go to [the] heaven [of their dream]. They live in that dream, and [when it ends], they take a nice body [here], and they are good people.
Swami VivekanandaRead

Similar quotes

It is possible to live happily in the here and now. So many conditions of happiness are available-more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don't have to run into the future in order to get more.
Nhat HanhRead
I ate apple pie and ice cream—it was getting better as I got deeper into Iowa, the pie bigger, the ice cream richer. There were the most beautiful bevies of girls everywhere I looked in Des Moines that afternoon—they were coming home from high school—but I had no time for thoughts like that…So I rushed past the pretty girls, and the prettiest girls in the world live in Des Moines.
Jack KerouacRead
That which you have received, you should be grateful for it. And the most beautiful phenomenon is that when you are grateful, existence starts pouring more and more over you. It becomes a circle: the more you get, the more you become grateful; the more you become grateful, the more you get... And there is no end to it, it is an infinite process.
RajneeshRead
It is possible to live happily in the here and the now. So many conditions of happiness are available - more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don't have to run into the future in order to get more.
Thich Nhat HanhRead
Activities that promote mind-wandering, such as reading literature, going for a walk, exercising, or listening to music, are hugely restorative.
Daniel LevitinRead
Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
Dalai LamaRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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