The Life of the intellect is the best and pleasantest for man, because the intellect more than anything else is the man. Thus it will be the happiest life as well.
The object of reflection is invariably the discovery of something satisfying to the mind which was not there at the beginning of the search.
The sounder your argument, the more satisfaction you get out of it.
I was obliged, at last, to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of nature alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind.
The greatest happiness for the thinking person is to have explored the explorable and to venerate in equanimity that which cannotbe explored.
The ultimate goal of therapy... it's too hard a question. The words come to me like tranquility, like fulfillment, like realizing your potential.
Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.
Pleasures of the mind have this advantage,--they never cloy nor wear themselves out, but increase by employment.
If you paint, write, do mosaics, knit - if it's solving that part of your brain saying, 'I need to do this,' you've won.
If I'm fulfilled mentally, spiritually, and physically by my daily activities and I'm constantly striving to grow by living out of my comfort zone, then I am successful.
People don't just come to work to make money; they need satisfaction.
Good men by nature, wish to know. I know that many will call this useless work... men who desire nothing but material riches and are absolutely devoid of that of wisdom, which is the food and only true riches of the mind.
All cravings are the mind seeking salvation or fulfillment in external things and in the future as a substitute for the joy of Being.
Mere mental, that is, intellectual labour, is for the soul and has its own satisfaction.
If you don't accept yourself, you won't live fully, and if you don't live fully you'll need to get full some other way.
I obtain great satisfaction out of using my intellect.
Success is not necessarily determined by material possessions or accomplishments. You can enjoy success simply by reaching the point where you are perfectly content with your life in every respect and you feel no dissatisfaction or pressing need for anything else. In this sense, you can be a success sitting by yourself in a quiet place contemplating the world.
The love of study, a passion which derives fresh vigor from enjoyment, supplies each day, each hour, with a perpetual source of independent and rational pleasure.
