Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. I try to increase the power God has given me to see the best in everything and every one, and make that Best a part of my life.
“You have a hierarchy of values; pleasure is at the bottom of the ladder, and you speak with a little thrill of self-satisfaction, of duty, charity, and truthfulness. You think pleasure is only of the senses; the wretched slaves who manufactured your morality despised a satisfaction which they had small means of enjoying. You would not be so frightened if I had spoken of happiness instead of pleasure: it sounds less shocking, and your mind wonders from the sty of Epicurus to his garden. But I will speak of pleasure, for I see that men aim at that, and I do not know that they aim at happiness. It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because they are good for him, and when they are good for other people as well they are thought virtuous: if he finds pleasure in giving alms he is charitable; if he finds pleasure in helping others he is benevolent; if he finds pleasure in working for society he is public-spirited; but it is for your private pleasure that you give twopence to a beggar as much as it is for my private pleasure that I drink another whiskey and soda. I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration.”
"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet"
"Felicity" - one of my favorite television series back in the days - a poignant reminder of college life, and a second chance of re-living it in Boulder. And it was indeed nostalgic to see scenes all over New York again in this series. In a few year's time...
It all starts the moment shy, beautiful Felicity Porter asks Ben Covington to sign her high school yearbook. It was graduation day, he's gorgeous and she's had a four-year crush on him. Even though the two have never spoken, what he writes in her yearbook is so insightful, so perfect, it persuades Felicity to change the course of her future from Stanford to New York - a future defined by medical school and the dreams of her parents. She surreptitiously follows Ben to UNY (the fictional University of New York) and is quickly swept into a romantic triangle that brings both discovery and heartache. Felicity moved to New York to find romance but ends up finding herself.
Dear Felicity,
(Here it goes.) I watched you for four years, always wondered what you were like, and what was going on in your mind all that time when you were so quiet, just thinking. Drawing in your notebook. I should've just asked you, but I never asked you. So now, four years later, I don't even know you. But I admire you. Well, that makes me sound crazy, but I'm okay with that. So take care of yourself.
Love,
Ben.
PS: I would've said, "Keep in touch," but unfortunately, we were never in touch.
- Ben's yearbook message to Felicity
Ben Covington: Look, I... I understand why you rather see Felicity with someone like Noel. Someone who's obviously going to make it. And probably long before, I mean, I figure out what I'm going to be doing with my life. But I always remember this one thing a teacher said, which was, all the interesting people she knew they had no idea what they were going to do with their lives when they were 20. So chances are, I'm going to turn out to be a pretty interesting guy. Look, for some reason, Felicity cares about me. And on a good day, I feel like I might become everything she sees in me. It is because of that, it is because of about a million other reasons that she means pretty much the world to me.
Sally Reardon: I've become a real believer in not defining every single thing. Seems like everytime you think you've figured out what something is, it just becomes something else.
Felicity Porter: Maybe getting over someone you’re in love with isn’t impossible. Unless, maybe you don’t actually get over it. Maybe you just learn to live with it.
Sally Reardon: The hardest part about moving forward is not looking back.
Felicity Porter: Dear Ben. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to end. But you know that. At least, I know you used to. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I thought we’d be spending the rest of our lives together. But now it’s six months later and you’re in Arizona. And I’m here in Palo Alto. And somehow it’s okay. I mean, it’s actually good. Just so you know, everyone’s doing great. Sean and Noel have, like, a real business. They’re happy. And Meghan, despite her issues, still wants to be a psychiatrist. She’ll probably be amazing at it. I’ll probably become her first client. It’s ironic how sometimes the thing you’re fighting is actually yourself. After everything, despite everything, I realized I wanted to become a doctor. Of course, my parents couldn’t be happier. But now I know, I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for me. Because maybe I can make a difference. So who knows, Ben, maybe we’ll both be doctors. Anyway, I know you’re busy, but, um, gimme a call or write me a letter... or send me a tape. I’d love to hear your voice.
Love always, Felicity.
Have you seen yourself today?
Could you recognize your face?
Can you tell me what to say
Mine's lost without a trace...
How do you feel when all the diamonds have run dry?
Meredith: There is a reason I said I'd be happy alone. It wasn't because I thought I would be happy alone. It was because I thought if I loved someone and then it fell apart, I might not make it. It's easier to be alone. Because what if you learn that you need love? And then you don't have it. What if you like it? And lean on it? What if you shape your life around it? And then it falls apart? Can you even survive that kind of pain? Losing love is like organ damage. It's like dying. The only difference is, death ends. This? It could go on forever . . .
A 10 year old boy went to an ice-cream shop and asked how much a cone costs. The waiter said "Rs. 18." Then the boy started counting how much he had. And he asked how much does a small cone costs. The irritated waiter said "Rs. 15." Then the boy ordered for a small cone. He ate, paid the bill and left.
When the waiter came to pick up the plate he was surprised: the boy had left Rs.3 as tips for him.
"Always Try To Make Everyone Happy With Whatever You Have"
“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path”
Every cell in the human body regenerates, on average, every seven years. Like snakes, in our own way, we shed our skin. Biologically we’re brand new people. We may look the same, we probably do. The change isn’t visible, at least not on most of us but we're all changed completed forever.
When we say things like, “People don’t change,” it drives scientists crazy because change is literally the only constant. Energy, matter, it’s always changing, morphing, merging, growing, dying. It’s the way people try not to change that’s unnatural. The way we cling to what things were instead of letting them be what they are. The way we cling to old memories instead of forming new ones. The way we insist on believing despite every scientific indication that anything in this life time is impermanent. Change is constant. How we experience change:- that is up to us. It can feel like death or it can feel like a second chance at life. If we open our fingers, loosen our grips, go with it. It can feel like pure adrenaline. Like at any moment, we can have another chance at life. Like at any moment we can be born all over again.
"I've had to say goodbye more times than I would have liked, but everyone can say that. And no matter how many times we do it, even when it's for the greater good, it still stings. And though we'll never forget what we've given up, we owe it to ourselves to keep moving forward. What we can't do, is live our lives always afraid of the next goodbye. Because, chances are, they're not going to stop. The trick is to recognize when a goodbye can be a good thing. When it's a chance to start again."
