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4 ideas
5756 | Happiness is a good which once obtained leaves nothing more to be desired [Boethius] |
Full Idea: Happiness is a good which once obtained leaves nothing more to be desired. | |
From: Boethius (The Consolations of Philosophy [c.520], III.I) | |
A reaction: This sounds like the ancient 'eudaimonism' of Socrates and Aristotle, which might not be entirely compatible with orthodox Christianity. It is not true, though, that happy people lack ambition. To be happy, an unfilfilled aim may be needed. |
7168 | Modest people express happiness as 'Not bad' [Nietzsche] |
Full Idea: The happiness whose proper name on earth the modest believe is: 'Well, not bad'. | |
From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 05[7]) | |
A reaction: Alexei Sayle expresses it in the English slogan 'Mustn't grumble'. Nietzsche certainly had the English in mind. Nietzsche seems to have the romantic tendency to think that only something completely new and original can bring happiness. |
7159 | The only happiness is happiness with illusion [Nietzsche] |
Full Idea: Happiness with existence is only possible as happiness with illusion. | |
From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 02[110]) | |
A reaction: A characteristically tough remark! It is, of course, indefeasible, because if you claim to have happiness without illusion, Nietzsche brands you as another fool. But why should a gradual stripping of illusion totally destroy happiness? |
7197 | Pleasure needs dissatisfaction, boundaries and resistances [Nietzsche] |
Full Idea: The feeling of pleasure lies precisely in the unsatisfaction of the will, in the way it is not yet satiated unless it has boundaries and resistances... | |
From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 11[75]) | |
A reaction: This sounds like a 'higher' sort of pleasure, preferred by Nietzsche and Mill and clever chaps like that. Personally I like sunbathing and listening to music, and I float along very comfortably, like a cork on the stream of indulgence... |