What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself - life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.
Willa CatherRead
One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the world's end somewhere, and hold fast to the days.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness is often unexpected and cannot be predicted; it arrives by chance.
This quote by Willa Cather suggests that happiness cannot be predetermined or forecasted. Instead, it is something that we encounter by chance in life's journey, often in unexpected moments, and it is important to cherish and hold on to those instances when they occur.
Themes
HappinessChanceLifeUnexpectedMoments
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a speech about the unpredictability of happiness in life.
More from Willa Cather
All quotes βThat is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.
Willa CatherRead
Our tree became the talking tree of the fairy tale; legends and stories nestled like birds in its branches.
Willa CatherRead
Writing ought either to be the manufacture of stories for which there is a market demand - a business as safe and commendable as making soap or breakfast foods - or it should be an art, which is always a search for something for which there is no market demand, something new and untried, where the values are intrinsic and have nothing to do with standardized values.
Willa CatherRead
The air and the earth interpenetrated in the warm gusts of spring; the soil was full of sunlight, and the sunlight full of red dust. The air one breathed was saturated with earthy smells, and the grass under foot had a reflection of the blue sky in it.
Willa CatherRead
This is reality, whether you like it or not--all those frivolities of summer, the light and shadow, the living mask of green that trembled over everything, they were lies, and this is what was underneath. This is the truth.
Willa CatherRead
Similar quotes
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Bertrand RussellRead
We don't laugh because we're happy - we're happy because we laugh.
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Some of my battles with weight have been very public. But most of them have been internal. Even at my thinnest, when my body was being praised, I wasn't happy with what I saw in the mirror or how I felt about myself.
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Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow.
Helen KellerRead
Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.
Karl BarthRead
One of the things psychologists used to say was that if you are depressed, anxious or angry, you couldn't be happy. Those were at opposite ends of a continuum. I believe that you can be suffering or have a mental illness and be happy - just not in the same moment that you're sad.
Martin SeligmanRead