“To make pleasures pleasant, shorten them.”
Source: Notes of Thought (1883), p. 122
Ceremonies
Alain On Happiness (1928)
“To make pleasures pleasant, shorten them.”
Source: Notes of Thought (1883), p. 122
Helen Keller: Her Socialist Years (1967)
Context: Some people do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions; and conclusions are not always pleasant. They are a thorn in the spirit. But I consider it a priceless gift and a deep responsibility to think.
2009, Nobel Prize acceptance speech (December 2009)
Context: Let me make one final point about the use of force. Even as we make difficult decisions about going to war, we must also think clearly about how we fight it.
Helen Keller: Her Socialist Years (1967)
“Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.”
How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/pw/mrlear.html, st. 1 (1871).
“One must not always think that feeling is everything. Art is nothing without form.”
12 August 1846
Correspondence, Letters to Madame Louise Colet