Happiness is not good enough. Don’t rest on happiness. I mean it’s okay and I hope you are all happy, but we got to do more than that.
Toni Morrison
Just one of many thought-provoking statements by Morrison in a 2010 conversation
with Angela Davis on libraries, literacy, and liberation (and so much more) The discussion was republished this week as an episode of the New York Public Library podcast. I highly recommend listening to it.
I think this quote stuck out to me the most because it rejects the centering of personal happiness as the ultimate goal. This rejection opens up the possibility of living a valuable, important, interesting life without having to be happy. Happiness is great, but it’s not the only thing that matters in life.
Thoughts?