Is it the pursuit of happiness or happiness itself that is more important?

28 comments

1. If you believe that the pursuit itself generates happiness, then there is no difference.

2. Goethe said “Happiness is a ball, after which we run wherever it rolls.When it stops,we push it with our feet”.

3. I think when you revere the pursuit more than the acquisition or completion, you normalize the idea that many may not get there. While I don’t think it’s the place of government to try to provide happiness, I think American government could do much better when it comes to facilitating rather than obstructing.

4. Hope and potential keep us going.

5. Literally everyone having happiness is a utopian impossibility.

   Everyone having the freedom and the right to try to find happiness for themselves is a real condition we can create, or aspire to create.

   I don’t know if it’s “more important,” that seem like the wrong question. It’s more that it’s the one the government can realistically work to ensure we have.

6. Nah, the pursuit sucks. Happiness all the way.

7. The pursuit of happiness is more important. Once a person is happy, its downhill from there.

8. In my opinion? Neither.

   The pursuit of purpose and meaning are far more important to me.

   Happiness is a temporary emotion. Meaning and purpose are worthy lifelong goals.

9. You have the opportunity to make yourself happy.

   There is no guarantee that you will succeed.

10. Journey before destination

11. Happiness itself imo.

12. Happiness is more important than the pursuit of happiness.

    The right to pursue happiness is more important than the right to happiness.

13. The freedom to pursue happiness is supposed to be guaranteed in this country, happiness itself is never guaranteed.

14. “Happiness” is not the laws business and come to think of it neither is “pursuit of happiness””. I have sometimes suspected what was meant was “no sumptuary laws” which actually does make constitutional sense but was not in the Constitution.

    The Declaration of Independence was not a legal document however. It is best thought of as a backdated declaration of war. Some of the things there are philosophically sloppy but good psy ops: for instance a lot of of the grievances were typical eighteenth century warfare as practiced in North America, and therefore cannot be a REASON for war (any more than an opponent making a thrust with his rapier can be a provocation of a duel). Likewise pursuit of happiness is ambiguous.

    However forbidding sumptuary laws is meaningful. And in practice carried out though not mentioned in law; for instance Bill Gates has to observe the same game laws I do. However in the past there were all sorts of petty things about who could hunt what, eat what, wear what, etc all to make sure people knew who was better than whom.

15. You can’t guarantee an end result, but you can at least guarantee that you aren’t gonna fuck with someone who’s trying.

16. There are no guarantees in life when you’re talking about something like happiness. That’s why the pursuit is what you’re guaranteed- you’re promised a chance, not a set outcome.

17. Journey, not the destination

18. I don’t know how one can be happy without pursuing it. Happiness isn’t just something you can suddenly have or lose. In my opinion, it’s a combination of things, people, and experiences that make a person happy. The balance of those things to give happiness varies from person to person, but that’s where the pursuit comes in. You have to put in the effort to find the balance that’s right for you.

19. In America you are only allowed to pursue happiness. There is no money in achieving happiness.

20. Happiness is just an instant. When people talk about a happy life, they dont mean there are no moments of pain.

    The pursuit of happiness is more importante because meaning is more important than happiness.

21. Contentment is most important. Happiness is a temporary state.

22. Define happiness.

23. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happypenis.

24. Happiness is an event. Once you have it, you need more happiness.

    The pursuit of happiness is providing the path to pursue whatever your heart’s desire might be. Results may vary.

25. The pursuit. No one has a right to be happy because no one really knows what will make them happy till they find it.

    They do have the right to go look for it.

26. The true source of happiness is the detachment from your desire for happiness.

    If you stop trying to be happy, you’ll find that happiness comes soon enough.

27. I think you should seek to be content

28. Life is a constant pursuit of happiness. It’s taking time to appreciate how far we’ve come I’d when we truly experience that happiness