Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word.
Interpretation
Laughter comes more easily and frequently through simple, positive interactions.
In this quote, F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that laughter is a natural and abundant response to kind words or cheerful moments. He emphasizes the ease with which joy can fill our lives when we engage in light-hearted exchanges and share positivity with one another.
In practice
In a speech about mental health, one could include this quote to highlight the importance of humor in coping.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
Living with only the bare essentials has not only provided superficial benefits such as the pleasure of a tidy room or the simple ease of cleaning, it has also led to a more fundamental shift. It's given me a chance to think about what it really means to be happy.
A good life happens when you stop and are grateful for the ordinary moments that so many of us just steamroll over to try to find those extraordinary moments.
Oh, dreams! In one night, lying with one's eyes shut, one may sometimes live through more than ten years of happiness.
The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.
We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.
Yes, it is one of my ultimate aims - it is the ultimate sense of football: to make the people happy, to let them live some emotions that you usually can't get.
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