QuoteProject
Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth... Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it. .
John Templeton
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

True happiness is derived from spiritual fulfillment and giving to others rather than accumulating material wealth.

This quote by John Templeton emphasizes that genuine happiness is rooted in spiritual riches and the act of giving to others, rather than in the acquisition of material possessions. It suggests that when we focus on bringing joy to those around us, we inevitably invite joy into our own lives; thus, the cycle of happiness is maintained through selflessness and generosity.

Themes

HappinessGivingSpiritualityJoyWealth

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about community service, one might say, 'As John Templeton wisely noted, happiness comes from giving, not getting.'

More from John Templeton

The correct description is that we try every day to become more humble when we talk about divinity, we try to realize how little we know and how open minded we should be. It's self centered to think that human beings, as limited as we are, can describe divinity.
John TempletonRead
Life is made up not necessarily of great sacrifices or high-level duties but of little things. The smiles, the kindnesses, the commitments and obligations and responsibilities that are given habitually and lovingly are the blessings that win and preserve the heart and bring comfort to one's self as we as to others. This is the ministry of service performed by every useful life.
John TempletonRead
The correct description is that we try every day to become more humble when we talk about divinity, we try to realize how little we know and how open minded we should be.
John TempletonRead
The objective of our religious foundations is to teach people that they are hurting themselves when they say they believe something. What we should realize is we know almost nothing about God and therefore we should be eager to search and to learn.
John TempletonRead
The idea that an individual can find God is terribly self-centered. It is like a wave thinking it can find the sea.
John TempletonRead
Three of my children are medical doctors; they know at least a hundred times as much about your body as my grandfather knew, but they don't know much more about soul than he did.
John TempletonRead

Similar quotes

There's a huge difference between achieving to be happy and happily achieving.
Tony RobbinsRead
There can be no peace for us, only misery, and the greatest happiness.
Leo TolstoyRead
Then the musical instruments appeared. Dad’s snare drum from the house, Henry’s guitar from his car, Adam’s spare guitar from my room. Everyone was jamming together, singing songs: Dad’s songs, Adam’s songs, old Clash songs, old Wipers songs. Teddy was dancing around, the blond of his hair reflecting the golden flames. I remember watching it all and getting that tickling in my chest and thinking to myself: This is what happiness feels like.
Gayle FormanRead
Feeling very happy - why? An explanation is needed. No, happiness needs no explanation, happiness is its own explanation. God is creating because that is the only way he can be happy, that is the only way he loves, that is the only way he sings, that's the only way he can be at all. Creation is his innermost nature, no why is needed.
RajneeshRead
This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had every ambition. To live far from men, not to need them and yet to love them. To have the stars above, the land to your left and the sea to your right and to realize of a sudden that in your heart, life has accomplished its final miracle: it has become a fairy tale.
Nikos KazantzakisRead
Happiness is threatening and misery is safe - safe for the ego. Ego can exist only in misery and through misery. Ego is an island surrounded by hell; happiness is threatening to the ego, to the very existence of the ego. Happiness rises like a sun and the ego disappears, evaporates like a dewdrop on the grass leaf.
RajneeshRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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