Of course the world of work begins to become - threatens to become - our only world, to the exclusion of all else. The demands of the working world grow ever more total, grasping ever more completely the whole of human existence.
Josef PieperRead
Repose, leisure, peace, belong among the elements of happiness. If we have not escaped from harried rush, from mad pursuit, from unrest, from the necessity of care, we are not happy. And what of contemplation? Its very premise is freedom from the fetters of workaday busyness. Moreover, it itself actualizes this freedom by virtue of being intuition.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True happiness stems from leisure and peace, free from the rush and stress of daily life.
This quote emphasizes the importance of tranquility and leisure in achieving happiness. It suggests that one must escape the constant busyness and stress of modern life to find true contentment, allowing for contemplation and the freedom that comes with it. The essence of happiness, according to Pieper, lies in moments of peace and the ability to reflect away from the chaos of everyday responsibilities.
Themes
HappinessPeaceLeisureContemplationFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about work-life balance, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of leisure.
More from Josef Pieper
All quotes βBeing precedes Truth, and ... Truth precedes the Good.
Josef PieperRead
The eye of perfected friendship with God is aware of deeper dimensions of reality, to which the eyes of the average man and the average Christian are not yet opened.
Josef PieperRead
The common element in all the special forms of contemplation is the loving, yearning, affirming bent toward that happiness which is the same as God Himself, and which is the aim and purpose of all that happens in the world.
Josef PieperRead
The happy man needs nothing and no one. Not that he holds himself aloof, for indeed he is in harmony with everything and everyone; everything is "in him"; nothing can happen to him. The same may also be said for the contemplative person; he needs himself alone; he lacks nothing.
Josef PieperRead
To celebrate a festival means: to live out, for some special occasion and in an uncommon manner, the universal assent to the world as a whole.
Josef PieperRead
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I've chosen to treat my life more like a party than something to stress about.
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