None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
I am a happy camper so I guess I’m doing something right. Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness comes when we stop chasing it and focus on other aspects of life.
Henry David Thoreau emphasizes that happiness cannot be pursued directly; rather, it is a byproduct of engaging in meaningful activities and experiences. By shifting our focus away from the relentless pursuit of happiness, we create an environment where happiness can naturally occur and settle in our lives.
Themes
HappinessButterflyLifeAttentionContentment
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about finding joy in everyday life.
More from Henry David Thoreau
All quotes →Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling and spending their lives like servants.
Henry David ThoreauRead
An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Have no mean hours, but be grateful for every hour, and accept what it brings. The reality will make any sincere record respectable.
Henry David ThoreauRead
As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.
Henry David ThoreauRead
That grand old poem called Winter
Henry David ThoreauRead
Similar quotes
Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.
Thomas De QuinceyRead
Probably the happiest period in life most frequently is in middle age, when the eager passions of youth are cooled, and the infirmities of age not yet begun; as we see that the shadows, which are at morning and evening so large, almost entirely disappear at midday.
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I would rate the fact that I get to be alive a big beautiful 10. Satisfaction with myself - work in progress.
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The journey to happiness involves finding the courage to go down into ourselves and take responsibility for what's there: all of it.
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Man is happiest when he is creating. In fact, the highest state of which man is capable lies in the creative act.
Leo BuscagliaRead
The disturbers of our happiness, in this world, are our desires, our griefs, and our fears.
Samuel JohnsonRead