It's not that life has been easy, perfect or exactly as expected. I just choose to be happy and grateful no matter how it all turns out. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
Interpretation
Happiness comes from a choice rather than circumstances, and true goodness should not be based on fear or rewards.
This quote by Albert Einstein emphasizes that happiness is a state of mind that one can choose, despite life's imperfections and challenges. It also critiques the notion of morality based solely on fear of punishment or the desire for rewards, suggesting that true virtue arises from a more intrinsic motivation.
In practice
In a speech about mental health, one could say, 'As Einstein puts it, I choose to be happy and grateful amidst challenges.'
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
If I would follow your advice and Jesus could perceive it, he, as a Jewish teacher, surely would not approve of such behavior.
I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details.
In the middle of adversity there is great opportunity.
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject.
Surrounded by all the members of my dear family, enjoying the affection of numerous friends, who have never abandoned me, and possessing a sufficient share of all that contributes to make life agreeable, I lift my grateful eyes towards the Supreme Being and feel that I am happy.
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.
The summit of pleasure is the elimination of all that gives pain.
That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings.
In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be a gainer; to forget oneself is to be happy.
Now is the time for drinking; now the time to beat the earth with unfettered foot.
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