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.
No one is happy all his life long.
Happiness is man's greatest aim in life. Tranquility and rationality are the cornerstones of happiness.
He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all. Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.
Growing up, I was utterly oblivious to the fact that Mom was teaching me all that. But I was instantly aware of her final lesson, which was hidden in her notes and leters. As I read them I began to understand that in the end you are the only one who can make yourself happy. More important, Mom showed me that it is never too late to find out how to do it.
A glass of good wine is a gracious creature, and reconciles poor mortality to itself and that is what few things can do.
the joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you
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