Darrin McMahon Quotations

Man needed to be upbeat to keep going. And all species need to be happy enough to reproduce.

That's when happiness became an assumed entitlement of all human beings. Unfortunately, that puts a great deal of pressure on us.

It's only relatively recently that human beings have begun to think of happiness as not just an earthy possibility, but also in some ways as an obligation or entitlement, a natural human right. I think this has created a new and very modern pressure, even a new type of unhappiness: the unhappiness of not being happy.

It's only relatively recently, since the 18th century, that people expected religion to make them happy. In a way, it's a perverse affirmation of the Enlightenment.

It's easy to forget that happiness is like anything else worth having, whether that be a good relationship or good physical fitness. It usually involves struggle, sacrifice, even pain.

That said, the people who study subjective well-being will tell you that most people are pretty happy.