“Happiness is a very pretty thing to feel, but very dry to talk about.”

Source: The Panopticon Writings

Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

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Jeremy Bentham30

British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer 1748–1832

David Gemmell book Legend

Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 22

“My own feeling is that human happiness is a very random thing, and bestows itself willy-nilly, and there’s not much deserving about the matter.”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Alvin Journeyman (1995), Chapter 3.

“We now talk of our killed and wounded. There is however a very happy feeling. Those who escape regret of course the loss of comrades and friends, but their own escape and safety to some extent modifies their feelings.”

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) American politician, 19th President of the United States (in office from 1877 to 1881)

Letter to Lucy Webb Hayes (25 October 1864)
Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1922 - 1926)

“Sharing instructions about how to perform better for others is very different than sharing feelings about life experiences that make us happy or sad.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say (2000)

“Talk about rationality can get very confusing unless the things with which rationality deals are also included.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 8

“I feel that I've had a happy life, not a very useful life, but a happy one.”

Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross (1902–2003) British politician

As quoted in his obituary in The Independent (11 July 2003) http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article36741.ece

“[The pamphlet] was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.”

Terry Pratchett book Monstrous Regiment

Source: Monstrous Regiment

“Sometimes if you go to see a very, very, happy movie, a Hollywood movie, you can walk out of the movie and feel very depressed because it's so false. And other times you see a very depressing movie and it makes you feel good, happy because you've seen something real. You've seen something that talks to you and says that your bad feelings are legitimate. And then you can go further with that and say, "Well, this bad feeling is good, and this good feeling is bad, but is it good to feel bad and is it bad to feel good?" I'm concerned with feelings. And sometimes when I feel good, I'll write something very negative because I have the strength to do it. But when I really, really feel very bad, what I want to do is make myself feel better, so I'll write something happier.”

John S. Hall (1960) Poet, author, singer, lawyer

Quotes from interviews

“I've been very consistent over the years in saying the same things. I feel pretty strongly that the only thing that's changed is that the New York media world once agreed with the things I was saying, and now they don't.”

Matt Taibbi (1970) author and journalist

Source: Ross Barkan. " What Happened to Matt Taibbi? https://web.archive.org/web/20211126230239/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/what-happened-to-matt-taibbi.html", New York, 29 October 2021.

“There was constant talk about hewing things and ravaging things and splitting things asunder. Lots of big talk of things being mighty, and of things being riven, and of things being in thrall to other things, but very little attention given, as I now realise, to the laundry.”

Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 18

“Happiness is a very pretty thing to feel, but very dry to talk about.”

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Jeremy Bentham30

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