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We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I stayed where I was happy.
Mary Oliver
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the universal desire for happiness and the importance of prioritizing places and situations that bring joy.

Mary Oliver's quote reflects the innate human yearning for happiness and suggests that individuals should strive to remain in environments that nurture this feeling. By recognizing our 'hungry heart', she encourages us to prioritize our emotional well-being and make conscious choices that lead us to experiences of joy and contentment.

Themes

HappinessJoyWell-BeingLife Choices

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about choosing happiness over stress, one might reference this quote.

More from Mary Oliver

I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
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At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
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I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
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For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
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If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead

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Find your happiness in yourself.
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Happiness and beauty are by-products. Folly is the direct pursuit of happiness and beauty.
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I don't mind to look older. I don't have this urge that so many people have that they've always got to look young all _x000D_ their lives. I think you should be the age you are and enjoy it... But if you want to have it, go ahead and have it, _x000D_ but take a good look before you do because, just maybe, you look absolutely beautiful the way you are.
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"You look how you look," "Be comfortable. What are you going to do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's just dumb."
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Love, compassion and concern for others are real sources of happiness. If you have these in abundance, you will not be disturbed even by the most uncomfortable circumstances. If you nurse hatred, however, you will not be happy even in the lap of luxury. Thus, if we really want happiness, we must widen the sphere of love. This is both religious thinking and basic common sense.
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