Ask yourself whether you are happy', observed the philosopher John Stuart Mill, 'and you cease to be so.' At best, it would appear, happiness can only be glimpsed out of the corner of an eye, not stared at directly.
Oliver BurkemanRead
Uncertainty is where things happen. It is where the opportunities - for success, for happiness, for really living - are waiting.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embracing uncertainty opens the door to new opportunities for happiness and success.
This quote emphasizes the importance of uncertainty as a fertile ground for growth and opportunity. It suggests that great things such as success and genuine happiness often arise from situations where we cannot predict the outcome, encouraging us to embrace the unknown rather than fear it, as it is within this unpredictability that we can truly experience life.
Themes
UncertaintyOpportunitySuccessHappinessLife
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about personal growth.
More from Oliver Burkeman
All quotes βReassurance can actually exacerbate anxiety: when you reassure your friend that the worst-case scenario he fears probably won't occur, you inadvertently reinforce his belief that it would be catastrophic if it did. You are tightening the coil of his anxiety, not loosening it. All to often, the Stoics point out, things will not turn out for the best.
Oliver BurkemanRead
True security lies in the unrestrained embrace of insecurity - in the recognition that we never really stand on solid ground, and never can.
Oliver BurkemanRead
The effort to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable. And that it is out constant efforts to eliminate the negative - insecurity, uncertainty, failure, or sadness - that is what causes us to feel so insecure, anxious, uncertain, or unhappy.
Oliver BurkemanRead
Similar quotes
Anything the human mind can believe, the human mind can achieve
Napoleon HillRead
If you're going to be a footballer, be a great one.If you're going to have a dream, dream big.
Alex FergusonRead
The things that motivated me at 21 don't suffice. Which is scary but really liberating in a way. It's taken me a long time to feel like, instead of being invited to the party with a bunch of people I don't know, that I actually deserve to be here.
Chris PineRead
Confidence comes from knowing what you're doing. If you are prepared for something, you usually do it. If not, you usually fall flat on your face.
Tom LandryRead
Let your mind see every detail of your own special version of the very best that life can be. If you could make the world exactly to your liking, consider very specifically just how that world would be. If you could spend your time doing precisely what you wish, how would the moments of your life be lived?
Ralph MarstonRead
All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man has taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead