Is happiness a sort of blissful state of mind or just a kind of surreal propensity? It may be hard to recognize its very nature, if we remain guilelessly confined in a state of woeful unawareness or in a no-man’s-land of emotions. In their dogged and obstinate quest for the zenith of happiness, many forget to take pleasure in the small things of everyday and, thus, become disgruntled and depressed instead, which leads them to a mire of gloom. (C’est quand le bonheur “)

~ Erik Pevernagie

Erik Pevernagie Blissful Confined Depressed Disgruntled Dogged Emotions Everyday Forget Gloom Guileless Happiness Hard Le Bonheur Mire Np Man S Land Obstinate Propensity Recognize Remain Small Things State Of Mind Surreal Take Pleasure In Life The Very Nature Unawareness Woeful

As nature has uncovered from under this hard shell the seed for which she most tenderly cares - the propensity and vocation to free thinking - this gradually works back upon the character of the people, who thereby gradually become capable of managing freedom; finally, it affects the principles of government, which finds it to its advantage to treat men, who are now more than machines, in accordance with their dignity.

~ Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant Advantage Character Dignity Free Thinking Freedom Freethought Government Machines Nature Principles Propensity Vocation

He loved the sea for deep-seated reasons: the hardworking artist's need for repose, the desire to take shelter from the demanding diversity of phenomena in the bosom of boundless simplicity, a propensity—proscribed and diametrically opposed to his mission in life and for that very reason seductive—a propensity for the unarticulated, the immoderate, the eternal, for nothingness. To repose in perfection is the desire of all those who strive for excellence, and is not nothingness a form of perfection?

~ Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann Art Bosom Death Eternal Excellence Existential Mission Nothingness Oceanic Perfection Propensity Proscribed Repose Sea Shelter Simplicity Thanatos Work