Happiness is a fleeting feeling, not a permanent state or reliable goal.

A good life can contain grief, struggle, sacrifice, and unhappiness.

Happiness is the light cast by a life well lived.

Yes, happiness exists—but as a fleeting feeling, not a permanent state.

No one can remain cheerful all the time. Nor should they want to. A life without sadness would be shallow and dishonest, scarcely a human life at all. Our sadness is often the measure of what we value: We grieve because we have loved, worry because we care, and struggle because something matters.

Part of the problem with happiness is contained in the word itself. In English, happy is related to happen, which derives from the Old Norse happ, meaning fortune or luck. Like luck, happiness is something that happens to us. It comes and goes, often without asking our permission.

That is why happiness is such a poor goal. If we make a passing feeling our chief aim, we condemn ourselves to chasing it.........

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