The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
Interpretation
Pursuing happiness directly can often lead to feelings of dissatisfaction instead of joy.
This quote by Eric Hoffer suggests that the relentless pursuit of happiness can ironically result in unhappiness. It implies that when individuals focus too much on seeking happiness as a goal, they may overlook the simple joys of life and become discontented due to unmet expectations.
In practice
Using this quote during a motivational speech about finding fulfillment in life.
Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.
Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated?
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.
Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
What can I do with my happiness? How can I keep it, conceal it, bury it where I may never lose it? I want to kneel as it falls over me like rain, gather it up with lace and silk, and press it over myself again.
How would you know what happy is if you've never been otherwise.
The universe is already programmed to give each of us a year of happiness. Our challenge lies in programming ourselves to receive it.
The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.
It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.
The happiest moments my heart knows are those in which it is pouring forth its affections to a few esteemed characters.
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