To fill the hour──that is happiness.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
The small things of life were often so much bigger than the great things . . . the trivial pleasure like cooking, one's home, little poems especially sad ones, solitary walks, funny things seen and overheard.
Interpretation
The small joys in life often hold more significance than grand achievements.
This quote by Barbara Pym highlights the importance of appreciating the small, often overlooked aspects of life that bring joy and fulfillment. It suggests that while great accomplishments may seem important, it is the simple pleasures, like cooking, enjoying a cozy home, writing poetry, taking solitary walks, and experiencing humor in daily life, that truly enrich our existence.
In practice
During a motivational speech about finding joy in everyday life.
To fill the hour──that is happiness.
What other sport holds out hope of improvement to a man or a woman over fifty? True, the pros begin to falter at around forty, but it is their putting nerves that go, not their swings. For a duffer like [me], the room for improvement is so vast that three lifetimes could be spent roaming the fiarways carving away at it, convinced that perfection lies just over the next rise. And that hope, perhaps, is the kindest bliss of all that golf bestows upon its devotees.
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
Do anything, but let it produce joy.
Summertime And the living is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Oh, your daddy's rich And your mama's good lookin' So hush little baby now don't you cry One of these mornin's You're gonna rise up singin' Then you'll spread your wings And take to the sky But til that mornin' Ain't nothin' can harm you With your daddy And your mammy standin' by.
It is a new road to happiness, if you have strength enough to castigate a little the various impulses that sway you in turn.
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