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About this quote

What does it mean?
Happiness and misery are more a matter of perception than reality.
In plain terms
You are only as happy or sad as you think you are.
What can you take from it?
Mindset shapes emotional experience more than events.

Where it applies

  • seeking happiness
  • coping with hardship

Putting it to work

  • mental health
  • personal growth

Questions to consider

  • Can we choose to be happy?
  • How much does perception shape reality?

Another view

It may downplay the impact of real external suffering.

More from Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  1. L'homme croit souvent se conduire lorsqu'il est conduit; et pendant que par son esprit il tend a un but, son coeur l'entraine insensiblement a un autre.

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  2. Pour s'etablir dans le monde, on fait tout ce que l'on peut pour y paraitre etabli.

    Permalink to quote #20
  3. Ceux qui s'appliquent trop aux petites choses deviennent ordinairement incapables des grandes.

    Permalink to quote #17

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