Obviously, there were ways to have made a lot more money and to have had more leisure. But I wouldn't choose that. I feel rich in ways that are unique and that I would never trade for tens of millions of dollars in the bank.
Interpretation
True wealth comes from experiences and values, not just money.
In this quote, Bryan Stevenson emphasizes that wealth is not merely measured by financial assets, but rather by the richness of experiences, relationships, and personal fulfillment. He suggests that having more money might come with benefits, but he values unique life experiences far above monetary gain, highlighting a personal understanding of what it means to be truly rich.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal values and success.
That's my mission: I really want to get in the heads and hearts of kids and persuade them that they can believe things they haven't seen, they can do things that maybe others haven't done before them, that they are more than their worst acts.
We all have a responsibility to create a just society
One of the things that pains me is we have so tragically underestimated the trauma, the hardship we create in this country when we treat people unfairly, when we incarcerate them unfairly, when we condemn them unfairly.
Somebody has to stand when other people are sitting. Somebody has to speak when other people are quiet.
I grew up in a segregated community: I couldn't go to the public schools, beaches, certain parts of town.
If we had done the work that we should have done in the 20th century to combat our history of racial inequality, no one could win national office after demonizing people because they're Mexican or Muslim. We would be in a place where we would find that unacceptable.
I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.
The more we allow ourselves to enjoy, the more reasons we find to be joyful.
A way of life that keeps saying 'Around the next corner, above the next step,' works against the natural order of things and makes it so difficult to be happy and good.
Beauty is being the best possible version of yourself, inside and out.
Joy is the sweet voice, joy the luminous cloud. We in ourselves rejoice! And thence flows all that charms or ear or sight, all melodies the echoes of that voice, all colours a suffusion from that light.
Many people think excitement is happiness.... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.
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