They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
Edith WhartonRead
There are lots of ways of being miserable, but there's only one way of being comfortable, and that is to stop running round after happiness. If you make up your mind not to be happy there's no reason why you shouldn't have a fairly good time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True comfort comes from accepting life as it is rather than relentlessly pursuing happiness.
In this quote, Edith Wharton suggests that the relentless pursuit of happiness can often lead to misery. Instead, she proposes that if one chooses to let go of this pursuit and accepts life as it unfolds, they can find satisfaction and contentment in the present moment. This perspective invites individuals to rethink their relationship with happiness and to recognize that joy can be found in acceptance rather than in ceaseless chasing.
Themes
HappinessComfortAcceptanceContentmentLife
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about finding inner peace.
More from Edith Wharton
All quotes →They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods
Edith WhartonRead
Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.
Edith WhartonRead
And I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie.
Edith WhartonRead
As he paid the hansom and followed his wife's long train into the house he took refuge in the comforting platitude that the first six months were always the most difficult in marriage. 'After that I suppose we shall have pretty nearly finished rubbing off each other’s angles,' he reflected; but the worst of it was that May's pressure was already bearing on the very angles whose sharpness he most wanted to keep
Edith WhartonRead
There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.
Edith WhartonRead
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The desire for total happiness and for ultimate freedom lies dormant in everyone. It is in the form of a seed. It is like a seed that contains a tree within it. In the same way, the fulfillment of man's ultimate desire is hidden in his very nature. In its perfectly developed state, it is our nature to be happy, to be free. Our real nature is the only thing that is true, and only perfecting it can bring complete satisfaction.
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As long as you live keep smiling because it brightens everybody's day.
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The universe is already programmed to give each of us a year of happiness. Our challenge lies in programming ourselves to receive it.
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