--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: That is the simple secret of happiness…" description: "\"That is the simple secret of happiness. Whatever you are doing, don’t let past move your mind; don’t let future disturb you. Because the past is no mor..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/anonymous-1_existential_that-is-the-simple-secret-of-happiness-w_2929244.jpg" --- # That is the simple secret of happiness. Whatever you are… ![“That is the simple secret of happiness. Whatever you are doing, don’t let past move your mind; don’t let future disturb you. Because the past is no more, and the future is not yet. To live in the memories, to live in the imagination, is to live in the non-existential. And when you are living in…” quote by Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/anonymous-1_existential_that-is-the-simple-secret-of-happiness-w_2929244.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/anonymous-1_existential_that-is-the-simple-secret-of-happiness-w_2929244.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/anonymous-1_existential_that-is-the-simple-secret-of-happiness-w_2929244.jpg) > “That is the simple secret of happiness. Whatever you are doing, don’t let past move your mind; don’t let future disturb you. Because the past is no more, and the future is not yet. To live in the memories, to live in the imagination, is to live in the non-existential. And when you are living in the non-existential, you are missing that which is existential. Naturally you will be miserable, because you will miss your whole life.” [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Happiness requires present‑moment focus; past and future thoughts pull you away from living fully. **In simple terms:** Live now, not in past or future. Key Takeaway Focus on the present. Themes mindfulness happiness presence Mood calm reflective Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - daily meditation - mindful work - stress reduction - relationships Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance awareness of past lessons with present focus? - What habits keep you anchored now? A Different Perspective Past and future can still inform decisions; ignoring them completely may be unrealistic. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Existential](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Miserable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miserable/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Secret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret/) [Spiritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [To live in the memories, to live in the imagination, is to live in the non-existential. And when you are living in the non-existential,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-live-in-the-memories-to-live-in-the-imagination-is-to-live-in-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The simple secret of happiness. Whatever you are doing, dont let past move your mind; dont let future disturb you. Because the past is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-simple-secret-of-happiness-whatever-you-are-doing-dont-let-past/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Whatever you are doing, don't let past move your mind;don't let future disturb you. Because the past is no more, and the future is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/whatever-you-are-doing-don-t-let-past-move-your-mind-don-t-let-future/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [“... my body ... faithful guardian of a past which my mind should never have forgotten, brought back before my eyes …”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/my-body-faithful-guardian-of-a-past-which-my-mind-should-never-have/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [I'm very nostalgic, and I spend a lot of time in the past, in my mind. That's part of my challenge, and what I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-birch/i-m-very-nostalgic-and-i-spend-a-lot-of-time-in-the-past-in-my-mind/) [Diane Birch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-birch/) > [Never tripping off the past, I would rather never mind them. Cause only fools trip over something that be behind them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fabolous/never-tripping-off-the-past-i-would-rather-never-mind-them-cause-only/) Fabolous > [Never tripping off the past, I would rather never mind 'em/'Cause only fools trip over something that be behind 'em](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fabolous/never-tripping-off-the-past-i-would-rather-never-mind-em-cause-only/) Fabolous > [“At times, it's better to think of exactly what is happening right in front of you every second, rather than going through things from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-e-turner/at-times-it-s-better-to-think-of-exactly-what-is-happening-right-in/) [Nancy E. Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-e-turner/) > [“Replaying the past in your mind won't change the present; it only steals the clarity needed to shape what comes next.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-meyering-sr/replaying-the-past-in-your-mind-won-t-change-the-present-it-only/) Joseph Meyering Sr > [I was so brilliant in the past. Now my mind is a blank. It's so glorious to get old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-woronov/i-was-so-brilliant-in-the-past-now-my-mind-is-a-blank-it-s-so/) [Mary Woronov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-woronov/) > [“Mrs Collins brushed past me. My mind remained blank as i watched her walk down the hallway. For the first time, i missed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-mcgarry/mrs-collins-brushed-past-me-my-mind-remained-blank-as-i-watched-her/) [Katie McGarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-mcgarry/) > [“I was dozing, and the clock woke me. I didn’t hear the first few chimes distinctly, that is to say, I didn’t count them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/i-was-dozing-and-the-clock-woke-me-i-didn-t-hear-the-first-few-chimes/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [Fuck your past. The future is in your hands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/fuck-your-past-the-future-is-in-your-hands/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot live always in the present it must not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-me-there-is-no-past-or-future-in-art-if-a-work-of-art-cannot-live/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Let go of the past and go for the future. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the live you imagined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-go-of-the-past-and-go-for-the-future-go-confidently-in-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Anonymous > [And a tear rolled down her cheek, as she said goodbye; because she's walking away, and she's never looking back](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-a-tear-rolled-down-her-cheek-as-she-said-goodbye-because-she-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You'll seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-ll-seldom-experience-regret-for-anything-that-you-ve-done-it-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Scrabble - The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/scrabble-the-game-is-available-in-braille-that-s-a-nice-fact-this/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Everyone needs someone to love, and I choose you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/everyone-needs-someone-to-love-and-i-choose-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Put on my J's and dance the whole night away Im naughty by nature like Im hip-hop hooray With my hands in the sky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/put-on-my-j-s-and-dance-the-whole-night-away-im-naughty-by-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Me.. I have been through a lot, but I still manage to have a smile on my face. Im not worried about the past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/me-i-have-been-through-a-lot-but-i-still-manage-to-have-a-smile-on-my/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Distance is a test of love. many will fail for those who can't withstand it, but for those who can, theres only one answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/distance-is-a-test-of-love-many-will-fail-for-those-who-can-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Im sorry I ever tried...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/im-sorry-i-ever-tried/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Being betrayed by the one you love is the worst feeling in the world...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/being-betrayed-by-the-one-you-love-is-the-worst-feeling-in-the-world/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Let children support their parents or be imprisoned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-children-support-their-parents-or-be-imprisoned/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The only person I've ever purposely caused pain here is myself...By simply sharing, caring too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-only-person-i-ve-ever-purposely-caused-pain-here-is-myself-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Start a business, not a startup”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/start-a-business-not-a-startup/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-of-course-that-the-curtness-of-the-ten-commandments-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Explore all 162,899 Anonymous quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More Existential quotes > [When we watch a play under the standard circumstances, we've lost volition and time is passing. A still play feels like an existential threat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-greenberg/when-we-watch-a-play-under-the-standard-circumstances-we-ve-lost/) [Richard Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-greenberg/) > [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elon-musk/i-think-we-should-be-very-careful-about-artificial-intelligence-if-i/) [Elon Musk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elon-musk/) > [The argument that won the Brexit campaign is the one that said take back control... which is another way of saying we want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-timmermans/the-argument-that-won-the-brexit-campaign-is-the-one-that-said-take/) [Frans Timmermans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-timmermans/) > [“When it has finished saying it, it no longer is. The longer it is in saying it, the more it can say it at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-ponge/when-it-has-finished-saying-it-it-no-longer-is-the-longer-it-is-in/) Francis Ponge > [We have an existential crisis, which is the climate crisis. Canada is one of the laggards in the industrialized world. Our record is terrible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-may/we-have-an-existential-crisis-which-is-the-climate-crisis-canada-is/) [Elizabeth May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-may/) > [Did television execs have souls? Now, that was an existential question and a half.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/did-television-execs-have-souls-now-that-was-an-existential-question/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [“So am I dead? How many kinds of living and dead and living dead and dead living had I been in just these few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-frances-turner/so-am-i-dead-how-many-kinds-of-living-and-dead-and-living-dead-and/) [Joan Frances Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-frances-turner/) > [I can negate everything of that part of me that lives on vague nostalgias, except this desire for unity, this longing to solve, this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/i-can-negate-everything-of-that-part-of-me-that-lives-on-vague/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I write very rarely. Only, in fact, when the sheet of paper suffers an existential crisis and threatens, if I don't surrender to it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiki-dimoula/i-write-very-rarely-only-in-fact-when-the-sheet-of-paper-suffers-an/) [Kiki Dimoula](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiki-dimoula/) > [Michael Jackson is an extremely productive ethnographer, a serious reader of phenomenological and existential philosophy, and a remarkable writer at a level that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-kleinman/michael-jackson-is-an-extremely-productive-ethnographer-a-serious/) [Arthur Kleinman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-kleinman/) > [If I had to choose between the two ways of approaching the deity, I should prefer the existential relational way, to the abstract philosophical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-moore-cross/if-i-had-to-choose-between-the-two-ways-of-approaching-the-deity-i/) [Frank Moore Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-moore-cross/) > [Huge public spending and borrowing in the face of an existential crisis is clearly the right thing to do, as is putting people's health…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-lucas/huge-public-spending-and-borrowing-in-the-face-of-an-existential/) [Caroline Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-lucas/) > [The ability to forget the past enables people to free themselves gradually from the pain they once suffered; but it also often makes them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lu-xun/the-ability-to-forget-the-past-enables-people-to-free-themselves/) [Lu Xun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lu-xun/) [Browse all 616 Existential quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "That is the simple secret of happiness. 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