#pines

When a mother quarrels with a daughter, she has a double dose of unhappiness hers from the conflict, and empathy with her daughter's from the conflict with her. Throughout her life a mother retains this special need to maintain a good relationship with her daughter. ↗

— Terri Apter

#daughter #dose #double #empathy #good

Worldly wealth is the Devil's bait; and those whose minds feed upon riches recede, in general, from real happiness, in proportion as their stores increase, as the moon, when she is fullest, is farthest from the sun. ↗

— Robert Burton

#devil #farthest #feed #fullest #general

Unhappiness is something we are never taught about; we are taught to expect happiness, but never a Plan B to use to use when the happiness doesn't arrive. ↗

— Doug Coupland

#arrive #expect #happiness #never #plan

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. ↗

— Epictetus

#essence #external #external things #happiness #his

Happiness consists in activity. It is a running steam, not a stagnant pool. ↗

— John Mason Good

#consists #happiness #pool #running #stagnant

Happiness is not to be achieved at the command of emotional whims. Happiness is not the satisfaction of whatever irrational wishes you might blindly attempt to indulge. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind's fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving values that are real, not the joy of a drunkard, but of a producer. Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions. ↗

— Ayn Rand

#rationality #values #satisfaction

There is indeed a certain sense of gratification when we do a good deed that gives us inward satisfaction, and a generous pride that accompanies a good conscience…These testimonies of a good conscience are pleasant; and such a natural pleasure is very beneficial to us; it is the only payment that can never fail. “On Repentance ↗

— Michel de Montaigne

#service #nature

You can’t bring an unwritten place to life without losing something substantial. Manila is the cradle, the graveyard, the memory. The Mecca, the Cathedral, the bordello. The shopping mall, the urinal, the discotheque. I’m hardly speaking in metaphor. It’s the most impermeable of cities. How does one convey all that? ↗

— Miguel Syjuco

#philippines #life

Happiness is not something that you can find, acquire, or achieve directly. You have to get the conditions right and then wait. Some of those conditions are within you, such as coherence among the parts and levels of your personality. Other conditions require relationships to things beyond you: Just as plants need sun, water, and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and a connection to something larger. It is worth striving to get the right relationships between yourself and others, between yourself and your work, and between yourself and something larger thank yourself. If you get these relationships right, a sense of purpose and meaning will emerge. ↗

— Jonathan Haidt

#happiness-life #life

You make me believe in happiness... if I had my way, if anything were up to me, I’d never be without you. You are my purpose. ↗

— Courtney Kirchoff

#happiness #love #purpose-in-life #life