How would you know what happy is if you've never been otherwise.
Interpretation
Experiencing sadness or difficulties helps us appreciate happiness.
Malcolm Forbes' quote suggests that without contrasting experiences, such as sadness or struggle, one cannot fully understand or appreciate the concept of happiness. It emphasizes the idea that our emotions are defined by their opposites and that experiencing a range of feelings enriches our understanding of joy.
In practice
Using this quote in a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
Over the years, I've evolved a somewhat heretical but time-and mind-saving approach to books, articles, editorials that deal with weighty matters. More often than not, by beginning at the end and contemplating the conclusions, one can determine if it's worth going through the whole to get there.
Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely like exercising authority usually lose it.
To live long and achieve happiness, cultivate the art of radiating happiness.
The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
If you never budge, don't expect a push.
It's never a good deal when only one party thinks it is.
The value of a smile... It costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits. It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in a business, and is the countersign of friends.
Happiness is but a mere episode in the general drama of pain.
Men find happiness neither by means of the body nor through possessions, but through uprightness and wisdom.
Happy people do not demand a lot from the world because their happiness proceeds from a place deeper than the world can touch.
If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.
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