--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Happiness is often presented as being…" description: "\"Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he thought, lying awake, that is because dull people are sometimes very happy and intelligent peop..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/854/ernest-hemingway-83_awake_happiness-is-often-presented-as-being-ve_2527618.jpg" --- # Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he… ![“Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he thought, lying awake, that is because dull people are sometimes very happy and intelligent people can and do go around making themselves and everyone else miserable. He had never found happiness dull. It always seemed more exciting than any…” quote by Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/854/ernest-hemingway-83_awake_happiness-is-often-presented-as-being-ve_2527618.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/854/ernest-hemingway-83_awake_happiness-is-often-presented-as-being-ve_2527618.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/854/ernest-hemingway-83_awake_happiness-is-often-presented-as-being-ve_2527618.jpg) > “Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he thought, lying awake, that is because dull people are sometimes very happy and intelligent people can and do go around making themselves and everyone else miserable. He had never found happiness dull. It always seemed more exciting than any other thing and capable of as great intensity as sorrow to those people who were capable of having it.” [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Intelligent people may create misery, while dull people can be content; happiness can be intense. **In simple terms:** Intelligence can cause misery; dullness can be content. Key Takeaway Seek balance between intellect and happiness. Themes philosophy psychology human nature happiness intelligence Mood reflective thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal development - mental health - literary analysis Key Concepts existential reflection emotional intensity Questions to Reflect On - How does intellect affect emotional well‑being? - Can simplicity foster happiness? A Different Perspective Intelligence may lead to overthinking. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Awake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awake/) [Awake Dull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awake-dull-1313067/) [Capable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capable/) [Dull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dull/) [Dull People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dull-people-547299/) [Dull Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dull-thought-1313066/) [Exciting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exciting/) [Found](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/found/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Happiness Dull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness-dull-1313065/) [Intelligent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligent/) [Intelligent people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligent-people/) [Intensity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intensity/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Miserable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miserable/) [Miserable Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miserable-happiness-867626/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Sometimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sometimes/) [Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow/) [Very happy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/very-happy/) ## Related quotes > [The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/the-really-valuable-thing-in-the-pageant-of-human-life-seems-to-me/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [“Not that happiness is dull. Only that it doesn't tell well. And one of our consuming diversions as we age is to recite, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/not-that-happiness-is-dull-only-that-it-doesn-t-tell-well-and-one-of/) [Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/) > [“Oh, you knew exactly what I meant. Not that happiness is dull. Only that it doesn't tell well. 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Happiness must be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-waiting-each-morning-for-happiness-to-come-your-way-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [And I return to the coldness of this defying human nature, to the impertinence with which the losers of the Sacred Self clime to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sorin-cerin/and-i-return-to-the-coldness-of-this-defying-human-nature-to-the/) [Sorin Cerin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sorin-cerin/) > [“Mama,' I said as I set the tray on the bed and sat down beside it, 'can't we do something for Tante Bep? 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Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-e-butler/) > [The dull people decided years and years ago, as everyone knows, that novel-writing was the lowest species of literary exertion, and that novel reading…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/the-dull-people-decided-years-and-years-ago-as-everyone-knows-that/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“I see dull people,” she yawned.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dunbar/i-see-dull-people-she-yawned/) [Robert Dunbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dunbar/) > [Music journalists are some of the lazy, most uninspired, dull people I've ever met...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zachary-cole-smith/music-journalists-are-some-of-the-lazy-most-uninspired-dull-people-i/) [Zachary Cole Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zachary-cole-smith/) > [“The dull people don't write interesting books. 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There was the green of the headlands, the white, red-roofed villas, patches of forest, and the ocean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/we-drove-out-along-the-coast-road-there-was-the-green-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [As a Nobel Prize winner I cannot but regret that the award was never given to Mark Twain, nor to Henry James, speaking only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/as-a-nobel-prize-winner-i-cannot-but-regret-that-the-award-was-never/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Oh, darling, I've been so miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/oh-darling-i-ve-been-so-miserable/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [I read my own books sometimes to cheer me when it is hard to write, and then I remember that it was always difficult,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/i-read-my-own-books-sometimes-to-cheer-me-when-it-is-hard-to-write/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“You find everything on earth at Harry's." 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