Maurice Maeterlinck Quotes and Quotations
What man is there that does not laboriously, though all unconsciously, himself fashion the sorrow that is to be the pivot of his life. Happiness will never be any greater than the idea we have of it. There is a courage of happiness as well as a courage of sorrow. An act of goodness is of itself an act of happiness. I have done what I could do in life, and if I could not do better, I did not deserve it. In vain I have tried to step beyond what bound me. To disdain today is to prove that yesterday has been misunderstood. You do well to have visions of a better life than of every day, but it is the life of every day from which the elements of a better life must come. The future is a world limited by ourselves-in it we discover only what concerns us. Nothing befalls us that is not of the nature of ourselves. There comes no adventure but wears to our soul the shape of our everyday thoughts. There comes no adventure but wears to our soul the shape of our everyday thoughts. Happiness will never be any greater than the idea we have of it. I have done what I could do in life, and if I could not do better, I did not deserve it. In vain I have tried to step beyond what bound me. Do we not all spend the greater part of our lives under the shadow of an event that has not yet come to pass? There is a courage of happiness as well as a courage of sorrow. When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough. Remember that happiness is as contagious as gloom. It should be the first duty of those who are happy to let others know of their gladness.
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