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.
Interpretation
Happiness often seems elusive, leading individuals to believe that others possess it while they do not.
In this quote, Samuel Johnson reflects on the common human experience of searching for happiness. He suggests that people often feel convinced that true happiness is unattainable and is merely a possession of others, which paradoxically fuels their desire and hope to attain it for themselves.
In practice
You could use this quote in a motivational speech about finding personal happiness.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
I take it not only a day at a time, but a moment at a time, and keep it at that pace. If you can be happy right now, then you’ll always be happy, because it’s always in the now
Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.
When we direct our thoughts properly i.e. 'Things could be worse but aren't', we can control our emotions... i.e. and feel relieved, grateful, satisfied, hopeful and happy
Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don't collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don't really mean anything.
[Be grateful for the simple things in life. Don't take them for granted. After all...] What would a blind man give to see the pleasant rivers and meadows and flowers and fountains; and this and many other like blessings we enjoy daily.
Oh, dreams! In one night, lying with one's eyes shut, one may sometimes live through more than ten years of happiness.
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