It is not difficult to be unhappy or discontented; all you have to do is sit down, like a prince waiting to be amused. ... It is impossible to be happy if one does not have the desire to be happy; one must therefore will one's happiness, and create it.

It is not difficult to be unhappy or discontented; all you have to do is sit down, like a prince waiting to be amused. ... It is impossible to be happy if one does not have the desire to be happy; one must therefore will one's happiness, and create it.

We prove what we want to prove, and the real difficulty is to know what we want to prove.

People who are upset about something ruminate on it whenever they get a chance; they are constantly drawn back to their own unhappy tale as if it were a horror story left open on a table.

Wouldn't a sailor laugh at you if you told him that the whole crossing depends on the first turn of the helm?

The most difficult thing in the world is to say thinkingly what everybody says without thinking.

What is a thousand years? Time is short for one who thinks, endless for one who yearns.