We must never expect discretion in first love: it is accompanied by such excessive joy that unless the joy is allowed to overflow, it will choke you.
Alexandre DumasRead
There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness and misery are relative states that depend on our comparisons with others and our past experiences.
This quote by Alexandre Dumas highlights the idea that emotions such as happiness and misery are not absolute states but rather depend on our perceptions and experiences. By comparing different states of being, we can appreciate the nuances of our feelings; for instance, someone who has endured significant sorrow can deeply appreciate joy, demonstrating that contrast enhances our emotional experiences and understanding of life.
Themes
HappinessMiseryComparisonExperienceEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to emphasize resilience and the value of experiences.
More from Alexandre Dumas
All quotes →There are two ways of seeing: with the body and with the soul. The body's sight can sometimes forget, but the soul remembers forever.
Alexandre DumasRead
I do not often laugh, sir, as you may perceive by the air of my countenance; but nevertheless, I retain the privilege of laughing when I please.
Alexandre DumasRead
Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish, know not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone realize the blessings of fair weather.
Alexandre DumasRead
It is the way of weakened minds to see everything through a black cloud. The soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and consequently the sky of the future appears stormy and unpromising
Alexandre DumasRead
Yet man will never be perfect until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is half the battle.
Alexandre DumasRead
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Every individual is at once the beneficiary and the victim of the linguistic tradition into which he has been born - the beneficiary inasmuch as language gives access to the accumulated records of other people's experience, the victim in so far as it confirms him in the belief that reduced awareness is the only awareness and as it bedevils his sense of reality, so that he is all too apt to take his concepts for data, his words for actual things.
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I ask every Australian to think about what the constitutional exclusion says to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, to see our vast and inspiring history in this land not mentioned in the official picture like that.
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