A quote by Montesquieu

It’s not so difficult to judge what others expect of one, or what kind of role is being demanded of one. Living as one likes, on the other hand, is extremely difficult. What does one want? What does one want to become, and what kind of life does one want to lead? One doesn’t always get such a concrete idea of things. It would be a grave mistake to

Rousseau’s comparison of the levels of happiness of primitive and modern man returns us to William James’s emphasis on the role of expectations in determining levels of happiness. We may be happy with little when we have come to expect little. And we may be miserable with much when we have been taught to expect everything.

Wishing for happiness, we pass our human lives in suffering.

“Momentary happiness is a state that reflects not how well things are going but instead whether things are going better than expected.”