A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.
C. S. LewisRead
Don't let your happiness depend on something you may lose.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True happiness should come from within, not from external possessions or circumstances.
C. S. Lewis suggests that relying on external factors for our happiness can lead to suffering, as those things are often temporary and uncertain. Instead, true contentment should stem from an internal sense of self-worth and personal fulfillment, rather than being contingent on something that might be lost.
Themes
HappinessContentmentSelf-WorthDetachment
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about resilience, one might quote Lewis to emphasize the importance of inner happiness.
More from C. S. Lewis
All quotes βI enjoyed my breakfast this morning, and I think that was a good thing and do not think it was condemned by God. But I do not think myself a good man for enjoying it.
C. S. LewisRead
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C. S. LewisRead
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
C. S. LewisRead
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
C. S. LewisRead
The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred
C. S. LewisRead
Similar quotes
We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat. ... There's opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that's what life is.
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It sometimes strikes me how immensely fortunate I am that each day should take its place in my life, either reddened with the rising and setting sun, or refreshingly cool with deep, dark clouds, or blooming like a white flower in the moonlight. What untold wealth!
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Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter, sermons and soda water the day after.
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People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.
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In my experience, it is rarer to find a really happy person in a circle of millionaires than among vagabonds.
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If you think there's something you need in order to be happy, then you believe in lack. Then believing you lack, you will create more lack.
Marianne WilliamsonRead