Literary notes about contentment (AI summary)
The term "contentment" operates as a multifaceted symbol in literature, representing everything from an inner state of serene fulfillment to a counterweight against relentless ambition. In some works, contentment is depicted as a shared, almost relational pleasure that elevates another's well-being over personal desire [1], while in others it is offered as an ideal gift or spiritual treasure that one should cherish above all else [2][3][4]. It also appears as a subtle benchmark in narratives addressing societal injustice or the struggles of the oppressed [5][6], and as a quality inherent in the simplicity of life that contrasts sharply with the consumption of excess [7][8]. Authors across eras have thus used the concept to explore themes of spiritual balance, personal resolve, and even the bittersweet state of accepting life's limitations.
- As long as my pleasures were hers, I tasted of them with her; when this ceased to be the case I preferred her contentment to my own.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - And thus, along with his gift, greater or less, each shall receive this further gift of contentment to desire no more than he has.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - The utmost we can hope for in this World is Contentment; if we aim at any thing higher, we shall meet with nothing but Grief and Disappointments.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - “A man’s peace and contentment do not lie outside a man, but in himself.”
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - We are sometimes told of the contentment of the slaves, and are entertained with vivid pictures of their happiness.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass - There might have been peace and contentment in that humble home if it had not been for the demon Slavery.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - Neither set seeks anything but the contentment of the spirit.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain - It comes from peaceful fields, in which laughter and gossip rise above the hum of industry, and contentment runs with the singing plough.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein
