"There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself."

Happiness

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on happiness by Henry David Thoreau resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in happiness is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience", an argument in favor of citizen disobedience against an unjust state.

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Henry David Thoreau

"The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."

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More about Happiness

"A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides in imaginative reflection and judgment, when the picture of one's life, or of human life, as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted."

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