Through all my experiences in life so far, I feel like I’ve discovered what truly brings happiness. A quiet, peaceful life in the countryside, where I can help the people around me who may need assistance and aren’t used to receiving it. Work that feels meaningful and contributes something of value, time spent appreciating nature, books, music, and caring for my neighbors – that’s my vision of true happiness. And having a partner to share it all with, and maybe children too – what more could a man want from life?

I read a lot. I listen a lot. I think a lot. But so little remains. The books I read, their plots, their protagonists fade… Names of people, books, cities. They are already fading away. Even the titles of films I’ve seen recently…they have already faded… Everything that I see, or read, or listen to, connects, translates into moods, bits of surroundings, colors… With me, everything is mood, mood, or else – simply nothingness.

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.

Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.

When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.

The word ‘happiness’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

The best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain. Behind the clouds is the sun is still shining. Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary.

Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. We anticipate it, imagine it, but we do not look beyond the moment. Nor do we stop long enough to recognize that out of that grief, new clarity is born.

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance—but happiness in a good book is quite certain.

The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.