--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Happiness,... even the smallest…" description: "\"Happiness,... even the smallest happiness, is like a step out of Time, and the greatest happiness is sharing in Eternity.\" — Josef Pieper" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/josef-pieper-11414_eternity_happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is_2243263.png" --- # Happiness,... even the smallest happiness, is like a step… ![“Happiness,... even the smallest happiness, is like a step out of Time, and the greatest happiness is sharing in Eternity.” quote by Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/josef-pieper-11414_eternity_happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is_2243263.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/josef-pieper-11414_eternity_happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is_2243263.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/josef-pieper-11414_eternity_happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is_2243263.png) > “Happiness,... even the smallest happiness, is like a step out of Time, and the greatest happiness is sharing in Eternity.” [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. True happiness is fleeting, but sharing it creates a lasting, timeless connection. **In simple terms:** Sharing joy makes it eternal. Key Takeaway Share your happiness with others. Themes happiness connection eternity Mood joyful reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - friendship - family gatherings - community events - celebrations Key Concepts virtue shared experience Questions to Reflect On - How can you turn a small joy into a lasting bond? - What does “eternity” mean in everyday life? A Different Perspective Even shared joy can be fleeting if not nurtured. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) ## Related quotes > [From the greatest to the smallest, happiness and usefulness are largely found in the same soul, and the joy of life is won in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/from-the-greatest-to-the-smallest-happiness-and-usefulness-are/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [If kings would only determine not to extend their dominions until they had filled them with happiness, they would find the smallest territories too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/if-kings-would-only-determine-not-to-extend-their-dominions-until/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Sometimes people just need to be heard. They find happiness in sharing their thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akkineni-nagarjuna/sometimes-people-just-need-to-be-heard-they-find-happiness-in-sharing/) [Akkineni Nagarjuna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/akkineni-nagarjuna/) > [“Age brought wisdom, but it also brought a genuine gratitude for the happiness of sharing life with someone as much liked as loved.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-mccullough/age-brought-wisdom-but-it-also-brought-a-genuine-gratitude-for-the/) [Colleen McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-mccullough/) > [Happiness is waking up to u every morning seeing you smile and knowing what makes u happy. Happiness is sharing intimate moments throughout the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hemantsmarty/happiness-is-waking-up-to-u-every-morning-seeing-you-smile-and/) Hemantsmarty > [“We should daily repeat to ourselves," I exclaimed, "that we should not interfere with our friends, unless to leave them in possession of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-william-eliot/we-should-daily-repeat-to-ourselves-i-exclaimed-that-we-should-not/) [Charles William Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-william-eliot/) > [“Life isn't about making happiness. It's about sharing your happiness with others”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luna-adriana/life-isn-t-about-making-happiness-it-s-about-sharing-your-happiness/) [Luna Adriana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luna-adriana/) > [True happiness is sharing of hearts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hottiedevil/true-happiness-is-sharing-of-hearts/) HOttieDeviL > [Time is as necessary for remembering as it is for forgetting. 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It only takes the smallest of correctives to take care of that tiny minority that wants to disrupt the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-wales/people-are-not-fundamentally-bad-it-only-takes-the-smallest-of/) [Jimmy Wales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-wales/) > [Heart surgeons do not have the world's smallest egos: when you ask them to name the world's three leading practitioners, they never can remember…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-paretsky/heart-surgeons-do-not-have-the-world-s-smallest-egos-when-you-ask/) [Sara Paretsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-paretsky/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) ## More by Josef Pieper > [The delight we take in our senses is an implicit desire to know the ultimate reason for things, the highest cause. The desire for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/the-delight-we-take-in-our-senses-is-an-implicit-desire-to-know-the/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [“The vacancy left by absence of worship is filled by mere killing of time and by boredom, which is directly related to inability to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/the-vacancy-left-by-absence-of-worship-is-filled-by-mere-killing-of/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [“Patience is not the indiscriminate acceptance of any sort of evil: "It is not the one who does not flee from evil who is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/patience-is-not-the-indiscriminate-acceptance-of-any-sort-of-evil-it/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [Contemplation does not ignore the 'historical Gethsemane', does not ignore the mystery of evil, guilt and its bloody atonement. The happiness of contemplation is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/contemplation-does-not-ignore-the-historical-gethsemane-does-not/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [Justice is a habit (habitus), whereby a man renders to each one his due with constant and perpetual will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/justice-is-a-habit-habitus-whereby-a-man-renders-to-each-one-his-due/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [The happy life does not mean loving what we possess, but possessing what we love." Possession of the beloved, St. Thomas holds, takes place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/the-happy-life-does-not-mean-loving-what-we-possess-but-possessing/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [The brave man uses wrath for his own act, above all in attack, 'for it is peculiar to wrath to pounce upon evil. Thus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/the-brave-man-uses-wrath-for-his-own-act-above-all-in-attack-for-it/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [What distinguishes - in both senses of that word - contemplation is rather this: it is a knowing which is inspired by love. "Without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/what-distinguishes-in-both-senses-of-that-word-contemplation-is/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [Beauty, however, must here be understood in its original meaning: as the glow of the true and the good irradiating from every ordered state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/beauty-however-must-here-be-understood-in-its-original-meaning-as-the/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for nonactivity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/unless-we-regain-the-art-of-silence-and-insight-the-ability-for/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [To be conscious of gratitude is to acknowledge a gift.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/to-be-conscious-of-gratitude-is-to-acknowledge-a-gift/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [If God really became incarnate, and if His Incarnation can with justice compel man to change his life,then we have no alternative but to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/if-god-really-became-incarnate-and-if-his-incarnation-can-with/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [Surrender to sensuality paralyzes the powers of the moral person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/surrender-to-sensuality-paralyzes-the-powers-of-the-moral-person/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [Only those are called liberal or free which are concerned with knowledge; those which are concerned with utilitarian ends... are called servile...The question is...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/only-those-are-called-liberal-or-free-which-are-concerned-with/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [To celebrate a festival means: to live out, for some special occasion and in an uncommon manner, the universal assent to the world as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/to-celebrate-a-festival-means-to-live-out-for-some-special-occasion/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) [Explore all 60 Josef Pieper quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) ## More Eternity quotes > [“I believe in forever, and that’s what you and I are. We define eternity. This may sound cheesy, but you make me go there.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-mchugh/i-believe-in-forever-and-that-s-what-you-and-i-are-we-define-eternity/) [Gail McHugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-mchugh/) > [“Please not yet. Those are the three eternal words. Please not yet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-d-macdonald/please-not-yet-those-are-the-three-eternal-words-please-not-yet/) [John D. MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-d-macdonald/) > [Peace is the first thing the angels sang. Peace is the mark of the children of God. Peace is the nurse of love. Peace…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-i/peace-is-the-first-thing-the-angels-sang-peace-is-the-mark-of-the/) [Pope Leo I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-i/) > [There are two kinds of beauty; there is a beauty which God gives at birth, and which withers as a flower. And there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-kuyper/there-are-two-kinds-of-beauty-there-is-a-beauty-which-god-gives-at/) [Abraham Kuyper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-kuyper/) > [If I have a system it is limited to a recognition of what Kierkegaard called 'the infinite qualitative distinction' between time and eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/if-i-have-a-system-it-is-limited-to-a-recognition-of-what-kierkegaard/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) > [Only alone can you go into eternity. Only alone can you feel the transcendental light. It is not a shared experience because if it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/only-alone-can-you-go-into-eternity-only-alone-can-you-feel-the/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [The religion of art, like the religion of politics, was born from the ruins of Christianity. Art inherited from the old religion the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-religion-of-art-like-the-religion-of-politics-was-born-from-the/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [I think we all have a core that's ecstatic, that knows and that looks up in wonder. We all know that there are marvelous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coleman-barks/i-think-we-all-have-a-core-that-s-ecstatic-that-knows-and-that-looks/) [Coleman Barks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coleman-barks/) > [One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/one-of-our-great-allies-at-present-is-the-church-itself-do-not/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Heaven? Floating about with everyone you ever knew for eternity? Me family does me 'ed in after one day at xmas, I'd rather be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-pilkington/heaven-floating-about-with-everyone-you-ever-knew-for-eternity-me/) [Karl Pilkington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-pilkington/) > [What does the future, that half of time, matter to the man who is infatuated with eternity?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/what-does-the-future-that-half-of-time-matter-to-the-man-who-is/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [You and I are both life. There's just the experience of every moment. We like to call them moments. There isn't really such a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/you-and-i-are-both-life-there-s-just-the-experience-of-every-moment/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [You've decided to love me for eternity, I'm still deciding who I want to be today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ani-difranco/you-ve-decided-to-love-me-for-eternity-i-m-still-deciding-who-i-want/) [Ani DiFranco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ani-difranco/) > [You may have some friends that come and go, but having a friend like God will last forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyssa-tillmon/you-may-have-some-friends-that-come-and-go-but-having-a-friend-like/) [Alyssa Tillmon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyssa-tillmon/) > [There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-in-the-center-of-that-silence-was-not-eternity-but-the-death-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Browse all 3,482 Eternity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Happiness,... even the smallest happiness, is like a step out of Time, and the greatest happiness is sharing in Eternity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Josef Pieper" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is-like-a-step-out-of-time-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Eternity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is-like-a-step-out-of-time-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/josef-pieper-11414_eternity_happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is_2243263.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/josef-pieper-11414_eternity_happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is_2243263.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/josef-pieper-11414_eternity_happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is_2243263.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Happiness,... even the smallest happiness, is like a step out of Time, and the greatest happiness is sharing…” — Josef Pieper", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Josef Pieper", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Happiness,... even the smallest happiness, is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is-like-a-step-out-of-time-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/happiness-even-the-smallest-happiness-is-like-a-step-out-of-time-and/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```