QuoteProject
It was needless, after this, to say that all was vanity and vexation of spirit; for it is impossible to derive happiness from the company of those whom we deprive of happiness.
Thomas Paine
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

True happiness must involve bringing happiness to others; otherwise, it leads to emptiness.

This quote from Thomas Paine emphasizes the interconnectedness of happiness and the moral obligation to contribute positively to the happiness of others. It suggests that attempting to gain joy or fulfillment while causing distress to others is futile and ultimately leads to a sense of emptiness or 'vanity'.

Themes

HappinessVanitySpiritCompanyOthers

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech about community service, one could illustrate how helping others leads to personal happiness using this quote.

More from Thomas Paine

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
Thomas PaineRead
I consider the war of America against Britain as the country's war, the public's war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.
Thomas PaineRead
Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
Thomas PaineRead
The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.
Thomas PaineRead
To reason with goverments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected
Thomas PaineRead

Similar quotes

I was not wounded in any part of my body, but I had never experienced such intense pain, such a ripping of the nerves, such an ache of the heart.
Yann MartelRead
Post-modernism has cut off the present from all futures. The daily media add to this by cutting off the past. Which means that critical opinion is often orphaned in the present.
John BergerRead
We can know a person by observing his behaviour, understanding the reasons for his actions and ascertaining his intentions. If we do this, how can we not know him?
ConfuciusRead
he wanted people to like his mind again-after awhile it might be such a nice place in which to live.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
And the Raven, never flitting, Still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas Just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming Of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamplight o'er him streaming Throws his shadow on the floor, And my soul from out that shadow, That lies floating on the floor, Shall be lifted - nevermore.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
Grief, of course, is not something that operates according to a specific time frame, and it seems cold to suggest otherwise. Yet when we do not grasp that God is present in pain, we eventually insist on victory or, worse, blame the sufferer for not "getting over it" fast enough. This is more than a failure to extend compassion; it's an exercise in cruelty.
Tullian TchividjianRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.