
“The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.”
Source: Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness
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Sharon Salzberg 15
American writer 1952Related quotes


“The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.”
Le bonheur et le malheur des hommes ne dépend pas moins de leur humeur que de la fortune.
Maxim 61.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

Beast and Man: The Roots of Human Nature (1979).

Chap. III.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Part III
Context: When the happiness or misery of others depends in any respect upon our conduct, we dare not, as self–love might suggest to us, prefer the interest of one to that of many. The man within immediately calls to us, that we value ourselves too much and other people too little, and that, by doing so, we render ourselves the proper object of the contempt and indignation of our brethren. Neither is this sentiment confined to men of extraordinary magnanimity and virtue. It is deeply impressed upon every tolerably good soldier, who feels that he would become the scorn of his companions, if he could be supposed capable of shrinking from danger, or of hesitating, either to expose or to throw away his life, when the good of the service required it.

Reverence for Life (1969)