Paralysis of leadership is due in part to the unseen grip of the special interests.
John W. GardnerRead
Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one's powers and talents.
Interpretation
True happiness comes from fulfilling one's potential rather than merely enjoying idle pleasures.
In this quote, John W. Gardner distinguishes between superficial happiness, which may arise from trivial or passive activities, and authentic happiness that is achieved through actively engaging one's abilities and talents. He emphasizes that true fulfillment and joy are found when we utilize our skills and pursue meaningful endeavors, rather than simply seeking comfort or leisure.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal development, one could share this quote to inspire people to use their talents fully.
Paralysis of leadership is due in part to the unseen grip of the special interests.
More and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-scale organization, by overcrowding. More and more Americans are appalled by the ravages of industrial progress, by the defacement of nature, by man-made ugliness. If our society continues at its present rate to become less livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end up in sumptuous misery.
Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in the next county. Some find strength in eloquence, some in judgment, some in courage.
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.
I think that all human systems require continuous renewal. They rigidify. They get stuff in the joints. They forget what they cared about. The forces against it are nostalgia and the enormous appeal of having things the way they always have been, appeals to a supposedly happy past. But we've got to move on.
What leaders have to remember is that somewhere under the somnolent surface is the creature that builds civilizations, the dreamer of dreams, the risk taker. And remembering that, the leader must reach down to the springs that never dry up, the ever-fresh springs of the human spirit.
May your heart always be joyful. May your song always be sung.
This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had every ambition. To live far from men, not to need them and yet to love them. To have the stars above, the land to your left and the sea to your right and to realize of a sudden that in your heart, life has accomplished its final miracle: it has become a fairy tale.
Oh, dreams! In one night, lying with one's eyes shut, one may sometimes live through more than ten years of happiness.
The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
You must work and do good, not be lazy and gamble, if you wish to earn happiness. Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.