Who Knew?

 I am a lover of quotes.  I collect them and dole them out here depending on my mood.  So for today here are the quotes that make me feel like one human living my little life, just as everyone else.  Veronica

• Rene Descartes

• Woody Allen

• Woody Allen

• George Burns

• Bill Cosby

I have been doing a lot of thinking about friendship as of late. It is always in adversity that we learn what people are made of. Here are some choice quotes by influential people who view friendship in a similar way. Whether it is an old friend catching up, or even a new friend on the Internet, friendship just makes life that much sweeter. Thank you for being a friend.

Anaïs Nin:
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

Ecclesiasticus 6:14:
A faithful friend is a strong defense: and he that hath found such an one hath found a treasure.

Eleanor Roosevelt:
Friendship with oneself is all important because without it one cannot be friends with anybody else in the world.

George Eliot:
Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking.

Marcel Proust:
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

When our fore father’s were writing what would become one of the most important and controversial documents framing societal mores so to speak, they obviously believed that “happiness” was an important  factor by including;

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” one of the most famous phrases in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and seen as part of the Bill of Rights, namely, these three aspects are listed among the “inalienable rights” of man.

It seems in this time of political turmoil, an ongoing war in Iraq and the economy stressing out just about everyone, the subject of “happiness” is being discussed and dissected more than ever.  

Time magazine devoted an issue to The New Science of Happiness. 

The British BBC television kicked off a six part series on the subject this week;

“The series looks at the newest research from around the world to find out what could it be that makes us happy.

We all want to be happy but the problem has always been that you can’t measure happiness.

Happiness has always been seen as too vague a concept, as Lord Layard, Professor of Economics at the LSE and author of “Happiness - lessons from a new science” points out.

“There is a problem with the word happiness.

“When you use the word happy, it often has the sort of context of balloons floating up into the sky or something frivolous.”

Now scientists say they can actually measure happiness.

Neuro-scientists are measuring pleasure. They suggest that happiness is more than a vague concept or mood; it is real. “

Clearly “happiness”, it’s meaning and importance differs individually.  The following are some fascinating and revealing quotes about the subject from writer’s, philosophers and other colorful characters I found worth sharing:

•  I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy. ~Franz Kafka

• If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.  ~Edith Wharton

• Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys.  If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.  ~Fyodor Dostoevsky 

• This is my “depressed stance.”  When you’re depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand.  The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you’ll start to feel better.  If you’re going to get any joy out of being depressed, you’ve got to stand like this.  ~Charlie Brown

•  You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. ~Camus

• There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.~Carl Jung .

Obviously there are divergent views of the concept of “happiness.”  The song below is my own way of perhaps mocking the idea as well as sharing a great tune.  There is a great deal of controversy over what the song means.  Some claim it represents heroine, others say it refers to homo-erotocism, and a bevy of other theories.  I won’t even pretend to know what was meant by the song, but for me it is one more brilliant contribution from the Beatles both musically and philosophically. 

The Beatles - Happiness is a Warm Gun

It seems to me that we are so busy worrying about “happiness” and attaining it that perhaps we are missing the point all together.  With that said, I want to know what “happiness,” the word or idea mean to you?  Are you happy?  Do you care?  Either way, feel free to share your thoughts, I look forward to exploring this further and maybe even learning something about myself in the process.  Have a “happy” day.

Copyright ©2008 Veronica Romm

This is a compilation of views from some of the greatest artists on art itself. They not only created beautiful masterpieces, but tried to understand their role in the process. Their views vary, some are spiritual about their work, others are ambivalent, and others are emotional. The common thread is that living life and art are vital to the artist. How ironic that most great artists lived their life so recklessly and never seemed to enjoy it at all.

“My role in society, or any artist or poet’s role is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”
-John Lennon, Interview, KFRC RKO Radio, given the day of his death. December 8, 1980

“Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses - especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”
-Leonardo DaVinci

“We work in the dark, we do what we can, we give what we have, our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task, the rest is the madness of art.”
-Henry James

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”
-Pablo Picasso

“All that I desire to point out is the general principle that Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.”
-Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Living, 1891

“The artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.”
-Pablo Picasso

“To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.”
-Auguste Rodin

These quotes found at http://www.quoteland.com/

Are there any quotes that you would like to share and add to this list? Please leave in comment and I will credit you for your input. 

 Tim Kissane contributed this one to the list.  Thank you. V

“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”
- Robin Williams

http://romi41.wordpress.com/ contributed Thanks Romi, always something great to add.  V

“Where the world ceases to be the scene of our personal hopes and wishes, where we face it as free beings admiring, asking and observing, there we enter the realm of Art and Science”–Albert Einstein

dontdatethatdude contributed these great quotes, thank you for taking the time.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.“

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” both from Gandhi

• “A civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has, nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence.”

• “Civilized society is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of men towards one another.”

• “Everywhere I go I find that a poet has been there before me.” 

• “Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.”

• “What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.”

• It is a wise father that knows his own child.
• That which in mean men we entitle patience Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts.
• Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.
• If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?
• We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

http://shakespeare.thefreelibrary.com/