“.. that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself”
Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility
Source: Sense and Sensibility
Source: The Prime Minister (1876), Ch. 11
“.. that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself”
Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility
Source: Sense and Sensibility
Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America
Book Three, Chapter XIX.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840), Book Two
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos book Les Liaisons dangereuses
L’homme jouit du bonheur qu’il ressent, et la femme de celui qu’elle procure. Cette différence, si essentielle et si peu remarquée, influe pourtant, d'une manière bien sensible, sur la totalité de leur conduite respective. Le plaisir de l’un est de satisfaire des désirs, celui de l’autre est surtout de les faire naître. <br class="br">Letter 130: Madame de Rosemonde to Madame la Présidente Tourvel. Trans. Richard Aldington (1924). http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Les_Liaisons_dangereuses_-_Lettre_130 <br class="br">Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)
“Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …
"On True Happiness", Pennsylvania Gazette (20 November 1735).
1730s
Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères
Le sage guérit de l'ambition par l'ambition même; il tend à de si grandes choses, qu'il ne peut se borner à ce qu'on appelle des trésors, des postes, la fortune et la faveur.
Aphorism 43
Les Caractères (1688), Du mérite personnel
“Prosperity can change man's nature; and seldom is any one cautious enough to resist the effects of good fortune.”
Res secundæ valent commutare naturam, et raro quisquam erga bona sua satis cautus est.
Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian
X, 1, 40.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book X
Kate Winslet (1975) English actress and singer
Isn’t She Deneuvely?: Vanity Fair, Dec 2008 http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/12/winslet200812
“There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations.”
Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes
Variant: There were two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations
Source: Nineteen Minutes
“Man never thinks himself happy, but when he enjoys those things which others want or desire.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) eighteenth century English poet