It's not that life has been easy, perfect or exactly as expected. I just choose to be happy and grateful no matter how it all turns out. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
Interpretation
Happiness comes from a choice rather than circumstances, and true goodness should not be based on fear or rewards.
This quote by Albert Einstein emphasizes that happiness is a state of mind that one can choose, despite life's imperfections and challenges. It also critiques the notion of morality based solely on fear of punishment or the desire for rewards, suggesting that true virtue arises from a more intrinsic motivation.
In practice
In a speech about mental health, one could say, 'As Einstein puts it, I choose to be happy and grateful amidst challenges.'
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
If I would follow your advice and Jesus could perceive it, he, as a Jewish teacher, surely would not approve of such behavior.
I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details.
In the middle of adversity there is great opportunity.
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject.
The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
You traverse the world in search of happiness which is within the reach of every man. A contented mind confers it on all.
When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. His enemies may indulge their pride by airy negligence and gratify their malice by quiet neutrality.
The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
Joy, feeling one's own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul.
The circus is the only fun you can buy that is good for you.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.