Hear Karen Horney:
The mind’s only possession is thinking, is reason. Its goal is the truth. Hence happiness is the same as striving after the truth. For the truth is eternal, and the greater our striving, the greater our happiness. This is easy to understand, for happiness is absence of all influences from outside that threaten self-preservation.
An existence is defective, on the other hand, where outside influences predominate. Where intellect is hampered by passion, suffering remains. Thus the desire to please, voluptuousness, intemperance, greed, sensuality express surrender to the force of external things. There is suffering too if the mind strives for something transient, changeable, or where its noble striving attaches to perishable things. (Quoted in The Life of the Creative Spirit, p. 244)
Hear Albert Einstein:
If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things. (Quoted in The Life of the Creative Spirit, p.228)
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For a short biography of Karen Horney, click on: Karen Horney
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