Misery is what happiness rests upon. Happiness is what misery lurks beneath.
Interpretation
Happiness and misery are interconnected, with one giving context to the other.
This quote by Laozi highlights the duality of human emotions, suggesting that happiness cannot be fully appreciated without the experience of misery. It implies that the presence of suffering and challenges enriches our understanding of joy, indicating that these two states are inextricably linked and define each other.
In practice
In a speech about overcoming adversity, one could emphasize how difficult times can lead to deeper appreciation for joyful moments.
If you understand others you are smart._x000D_ If you understand yourself you are illuminated._x000D_ If you overcome others you are powerful._x000D_ If you overcome yourself you have strength._x000D_ If you know how to be satisfied you are rich._x000D_ If you can act with vigor, you have a will._x000D_ If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting._x000D_ If you die without loss, you are eternal.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
It should not be expected that what is spiritual can be brought before the eyes, before the senses. It must be experienced inwardly and spiritually.
It is our work to cast care, and it is God's work to take care.
It seems not more reasonable to leave the right of printing unrestrained, because writers may be afterwards censured, than it would be to sleep with doors unbolted, because by our laws we can hang a thief.
Look at me as many times as you wish, _x000D_ but you wonβt get to know me! _x000D_ Since you have last seen me, _x000D_ Iβve changed a hundred times!
The government is best which makes itself unnecessary.
In contrast to the knowledge that keeps man in a passive quietude, Desire dis-quiets him and moves him to action. Born of Desire, action tends to satisfy it, and can do so only by the 'negation,' the destruction or at least the transformation, of the desired object: to satisfy hunger, for example, the food must be destroyed or, in any case, transformed. Thus all action is 'negating'.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.