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To forget oneself is to be happy.
Robert Louis Stevenson
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Interpretation

What this quote means

True happiness comes from letting go of one's ego and self-importance.

Robert Louis Stevenson's quote highlights the idea that genuine happiness often arises when we forget our own desires and concerns, suggesting that a selfless mindset can lead to a more fulfilled and joyful life. By stepping outside of ourselves and focusing on others or the world around us, we can cultivate a sense of peace and contentment that transcends individual struggles and worries.

Themes

HappinessSelflessnessContentmentEgoJoy

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech about finding joy in life.

More from Robert Louis Stevenson

Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
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Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
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That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.
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His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the many ill things he had done, and raised up again into sober and fearful gratitude by the many he had come so near to doing, yet avoided.
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The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.
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It is the history of our kindnesses that alone make this world tolerable. If it were not for that, for the effect of kind words, kind looks, kind letters . . . I should be inclined to think our life a practical jest in the worst possible spirit.
Robert Louis StevensonRead

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There's a scripture that says, 'A merry heart doeth good like medicine.' I think that's true, too.
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Bliss - a-second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious - lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you’ve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it’s like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom.
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Power, after love, is the first source of happiness.
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On with dance, let joy be unconfined, is my motto; whether there's any dance to dance or any joy to unconfined.
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I was always a happy kid. I'd play the piano fairly well. I did all sorts of things fairly well. But who the hell wants to be happy all the time? It's a miserable state to be in permanently. Can you imagine how dreary that would be?
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