They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
Edith WhartonRead
They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness can come unexpectedly, often catching us off guard in moments of stillness.
In this quote, Edith Wharton illustrates the fleeting and surprising nature of happiness. Just as one might stumble upon a vibrant butterfly amidst the starkness of winter woods, happiness can arrive unexpectedly in our lives, reminding us to appreciate these rare and beautiful moments when they occur.
Themes
HappinessSurpriseBeautyMomentsNature
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a wellness retreat discussing the unexpected joys in life could use this quote.
More from Edith Wharton
All quotes →Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.
Edith WhartonRead
And I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie.
Edith WhartonRead
As he paid the hansom and followed his wife's long train into the house he took refuge in the comforting platitude that the first six months were always the most difficult in marriage. 'After that I suppose we shall have pretty nearly finished rubbing off each other’s angles,' he reflected; but the worst of it was that May's pressure was already bearing on the very angles whose sharpness he most wanted to keep
Edith WhartonRead
There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.
Edith WhartonRead
The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!
Edith WhartonRead
Similar quotes
Pleasure must succeed to pleasure, else past pleasure turns to pain
Robert BrowningRead
My whole effort is how to beautify this present moment, how to make people more celebrating, how to make people more joyous, how to give them a little glimpse of blissfulness, how to bring laughter to their life. Then the future takes care of itself. You need not think of the tomorrow, it comes. It comes out of this moment. Let this moment be of great celebration.
RajneeshRead
He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all. Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.
Samuel AdamsRead
You ask me what I'd like to do that I haven't done and I say 'Nothin'!' I haven't any mountains to climb or oceans to swim. I've been an extremely blessed individual. ... I'm not clamorin' for more trinkets. If I were to die tomorrow, I could say I've had a good life.
Ray CharlesRead
I almost once wanted to publish a self help book saying, 'How To Be Happy, by Stephen Fry: Guaranteed Success'. And people buy this huge book and it's all blank pages, and the first page would just say, 'Stop feeling sorry for yourself--and you will be happy.'
Stephen FryRead
I take it not only a day at a time, but a moment at a time, and keep it at that pace. If you can be happy right now, then you’ll always be happy, because it’s always in the now
Willie NelsonRead