Happiness comes most to persons who seek it least and think least about it. It is not an object to be sought, it is a state to be induced. It must follow and not lead. It must overtake you, and not you overtake it.
Interpretation
Happiness is a byproduct of living authentically rather than actively pursuing it.
In this quote, John Burroughs emphasizes that happiness is not something that can be actively pursued or obtained as a tangible object. Instead, it is a natural state that arises when individuals lead fulfilling lives without fixating on the concept of happiness itself. This perspective encourages a more organic approach to happiness, suggesting that it often comes when we focus on our passions and experiences rather than chasing after it directly.
In practice
In a speech about mental wellness, one might quote Burroughs to highlight the importance of engaging in fulfilling activities.
The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and intense is his life, large-brained, large-lunged, hot, ecstatic, his frame charged with buoyancy and his heart with song.
Naturalists, like poets, are born and then made only by years of painstaking observation.
Every walk to the woods is a religious rite, every bath in the stream is a saving ordinance. Communion service is at all hours, and the bread and wine are from the heart and marrow of Mother Earth.
Next to the laborer in the fields, the walker holds the closest relation to the soil; and he holds a closer and more vital relation to nature because he is freer and his mind more at leisure.
Some of the animals outsee man, outsmell him, outhear him, outrun him, outswim him, because their lives depend more upon these special powers than his does; but he can outwit them all because he has the resourcefulness of reason and is at home in many different fields.
Unadulterated, unsweetened observations are what the real nature-lover craves. No man can invent incidents and traits as interesting as the reality.
Reacting to the world with a smile instead of a curse, a wave instead of the middle finger, will actually help you live longer.
Everyday happiness means you can't wait to come home, because the soup is hot.
Things that really matter are the things that gold can't buy, so let's have another cup o' coffee and let's have another piece o' pie.
The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being.
Pleasure is often spoiled by describing it.
I'm having the time of my life and the fact that I'm still working - how lucky can you get? I'm 90 years old and still able to work as much as I do. That's a privilege.
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