I find to my astonishment that an unhappy marriage goes on being unhappy when it is over.

—Rebecca West

relationships happiness marriage unhappiness

About Rebecca West

Portrait of Rebecca West

Dame Cecily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books for The Times, the New York Herald Tribune, The Sunday Telegraph...

More quotations from Rebecca West

There was a definite process by which one made people into friends, and it involved talking to them and listening to them for hours at a time.

—Rebecca West

Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.

—Rebecca West

art argument conversation

The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simple.

—Rebecca West

You will need to find your passion. Don't give up on finding it because then all you're doing is waiting for the Reaper.

—Rebecca West

Desire creates the power.

—Rebecca West

More quotations tagged with “unhappiness”

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.

—Gretchen Rubin in The Happiness Project

happiness belief effort generosity feelings discipline energy unhappiness selfishness care selflessness lightheartedness

Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart, and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.

—Frederick Douglass

history heart sorrow tears unhappiness slavery songs relief

The core of all humor, the reason for it all, is unhappiness.

humor unhappiness dissatisfaction

Happiness is always a byproduct. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy, you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.

—Robertson Davies

life happiness worry unhappiness temperament

Despair is as addictive as heroin and more popular than sex, for the single reason that when one is unhappy one gets to pay a lot of attention to oneself. Misery becomes a kind of emotional masturbation.

despair sadness sex misery unhappiness masturbation

History

11 Jul 2015 Added