Pages

Friday, October 27, 2006

Happiness

Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.
Robertson Davies

Taken from the daily quotations RSS I have on my home page; I think this to be a very clear distinction on what happiness really is. It is listed under their 'cynical' quotations and it is as such because of the last bit of unhappiness. Although I take issue with it being listed as cynical, I can see their point. It isn't cynical, however, because if you take the quotation in full the use of unhappiness at the end is layered in plurality: it is not really unhappiness but the personal label that one gives it that makes it so, it's semantic, signified by the use of "brand."

No comments: