QuoteProject
I thought there's something to be said for honor in this world where there doesn't seem to be any honor left. I thought that maybe happiness wasn't really anything more than the knowledge of a life well spent, in spite of whatever immediate discomfort you had to undergo, and that if a life well spent meant compromises and conciliations and reconciliations, and suffering at the hands of the person you love, well then better that than live without honor.
William Styron
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Honor and happiness can be found through life's challenges and sacrifices.

This quote reflects on the idea that true happiness may stem from leading a life filled with honor, even amidst suffering and difficulties. It suggests that the knowledge of having lived honorably can provide a profound sense of satisfaction, implying that enduring hardships in relationships is worthwhile if it results in growth and a sense of integrity.

Themes

HonorHappinessLifeSufferingLove

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a speech on the importance of integrity.

More from William Styron

The madness of depression is, generally speaking, the antithesis of violence. It is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk. Soon evident are the slowed-down responses, near paralysis, psychic energy throttled back close to zero. Ultimately, the body is affected and feels sapped, drained.
William StyronRead
my brain had begun to endure its familiar siege: panic and dislocation, and a sense that my thought processes were being engulfed by a toxic and unnameable tide that obliterated any enjoyable response to the living world.
William StyronRead
The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it.
William StyronRead
This was not judgment day - only morning. Morning: excellent and fair.
William StyronRead
In depression . . . faith in deliverance, in ultimate restoration, is absent. The pain is unrelenting, and what makes the condition intolerable is the foreknowledge that no remedy will come - - not in a day, an hour, a month, or a minute . . . It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.
William StyronRead
Writing is a fine therapy for people who are perpetually scared of nameless threats... for jittery people.
William StyronRead

Similar quotes

I might respect you as a brilliant intellect, runner, musician or juggler. But respect your BELIEFS? Only if they're supported by evidence.
Richard DawkinsRead
WAR, n. A by-product of the arts of peace. The most menacing political condition is a period of international amity.
Ambrose BierceRead
Consider the impasse of a one-God universe. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. He can't go anywhere, since He is already everywhere. He can't do anything, since the act of doing presupposes opposition. His universe is irrevocably thermodynamic, having no friction by definition. So, He has to create friction: War, Fear, Sickness, Death, to keep his dying show on the road.
William S. BurroughsRead
He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.
Samuel JohnsonRead
Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.
Samuel JohnsonRead
By writing her self, woman will return to the body which has been more than confiscated from her, which has been turned into the uncanny stranger on display - the ailing or dead figure, which so often turns out to be the nasty companion, the cause and location of inhibitions. Censor the body and you censor breath and speech at the same time. _x000D_ Write your self. Your body must be heard. Only then will the immense resources of the unconscious spring forth.
Helene CixousRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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

Quote by William Styron | QuoteProject