To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Oh, how desperately bored, in spite of their grim determination to have a Good Time, the majority of pleasure-seekers really are!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the irony of pleasure-seekers who, despite their efforts, often find themselves unsatisfied and bored.
Aldous Huxley observes that many people chase after pleasure and excitement, yet they often feel a deep sense of boredom underneath their facade of enjoyment. This reflects the idea that the pursuit of superficial entertainment does not lead to genuine happiness, and it critiques the societal pressure to constantly seek pleasurable experiences without finding true fulfillment.
Themes
BoredomPleasureHappinessSuperficialFulfillmentIrony
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the meaning of true happiness at a seminar.
More from Aldous Huxley
All quotes βFacts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous HuxleyRead
In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.
Aldous HuxleyRead
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous HuxleyRead
No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Similar quotes
It isn't the great big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones--I've discovered the true secret of happiness, Daddy, and that is to live in the now. Not to be for ever regretting the past, or anticipating the future; but to get the most that you can out of this very instant.
Jean WebsterRead
Seek not happiness too greedily and be not fearful of happiness.
LaoziRead
Give a man health and a course to steer, and he'll never stop to trouble about whether he's happy or not.
George Bernard ShawRead
Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.
Thomas De QuinceyRead
I've learned that men and women who are living wholehearted lives really allow themselves to soften into joy and happiness. They allow themselves to experience it.
Brene BrownRead
Do not forget that even as "to work is to worship" so to be cheery is to worship also, and to be happy is the first step to being pious.
Robert Louis StevensonRead