--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is a kind of happiness to know just…" description: "\"“It is a kind of happiness to know just how unhappy we could be.”\" — La Rochefoucauld" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0f/la-rochefoucauld-34349_happiness_it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-h_1778788.jpg" --- # It is a kind of happiness to know just how unhappy we… ![“It is a kind of happiness to know just how unhappy we could be.” quote by La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0f/la-rochefoucauld-34349_happiness_it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-h_1778788.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0f/la-rochefoucauld-34349_happiness_it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-h_1778788.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0f/la-rochefoucauld-34349_happiness_it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-h_1778788.jpg) > ““It is a kind of happiness to know just how unhappy we could be.”” [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Points out that recognizing the potential for deep unhappiness can itself be a source of happiness, highlighting paradoxical self‑awareness. **In simple terms:** Knowing we could be very unhappy can oddly bring happiness. Key Takeaway Embrace awareness of possible suffering as a path to contentment. Themes philosophy paradox self‑awareness Mood thoughtful philosophical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal journaling - therapy - mindfulness practice Key Concepts human nature existential reflection Questions to Reflect On - How does acknowledging possible misery affect your mood? - Can this awareness improve resilience? A Different Perspective Focusing on potential unhappiness may cause anxiety. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Unhappy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unhappy/) ## Related quotes > [One kind of happiness is to know exactly at what point to be miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/one-kind-of-happiness-is-to-know-exactly-at-what-point-to-be-miserable/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [People have the absolute right to be just as unhappy and miserable as they want to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-crawford/people-have-the-absolute-right-to-be-just-as-unhappy-and-miserable-as/) [Bill Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-crawford/) > [“People will try to spoil ur happiness just because they are unhappy with their own life... Stand ur ground!!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anint/people-will-try-to-spoil-ur-happiness-just-because-they-are-unhappy/) Anint > [I'm just as unhappy about San Antonio as I was about Chicago. If you're unhappy about certain things, you're unhappy everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-cisneros/i-m-just-as-unhappy-about-san-antonio-as-i-was-about-chicago-if-you/) [Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-cisneros/) > [I was just unhappy - and lonely at times. There was always that other side of me nagging away, bringing me down. The anger.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-bellamy/i-was-just-unhappy-and-lonely-at-times-there-was-always-that-other/) [Craig Bellamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-bellamy/) > [A fool with a heart and no sense is just as unhappy as a fool with sense and no heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/a-fool-with-a-heart-and-no-sense-is-just-as-unhappy-as-a-fool-with/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [Happiness, I do not know where to turn to discover you on earth, in the air or the sky; yet I know you exist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosalia-de-castro/happiness-i-do-not-know-where-to-turn-to-discover-you-on-earth-in-the/) [Rosalia de Castro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosalia-de-castro/) > [Happiness is to know the server,living in love.happiness is the lord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tabeth-zvax/happiness-is-to-know-the-server-living-in-love-happiness-is-the-lord/) Tabeth Zvax > [When Love Is Unknown For You, You Know What Is Happiness, When You Know Love... 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I'm not kidding you. It hasn't really brought me any kind of happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-buble/the-money-never-mattered-i-m-not-kidding-you-it-hasn-t-really-brought/) [Michael Buble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-buble/) > [The key ingredient to any kind of happiness or success is to never give less than your best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-simmons/the-key-ingredient-to-any-kind-of-happiness-or-success-is-to-never/) [Russell Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-simmons/) ## More by La Rochefoucauld > [“It is much easier to extinguish a first desire than to satisfy all of those that follow it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/it-is-much-easier-to-extinguish-a-first-desire-than-to-satisfy-all-of/) [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) > [“All passions make us commit faults, but love makes us commit the most ridiculous ones.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/all-passions-make-us-commit-faults-but-love-makes-us-commit-the-most/) [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) > [True love is like seeing ghosts; we all talk about it, but few of us have ever seen one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/true-love-is-like-seeing-ghosts-we-all-talk-about-it-but-few-of-us/) [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) > [“It is with true love as with ghosts and apparitions: Every one talks of it, and scarcely any one has seen it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/it-is-with-true-love-as-with-ghosts-and-apparitions-every-one-talks/) [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) > [“When not prompted by vanity, we say little.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/when-not-prompted-by-vanity-we-say-little/) [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) > [“He who lives without folly is not as wise as he may think.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/he-who-lives-without-folly-is-not-as-wise-as-he-may-think/) [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) > [“The confidence which we have in ourselves gives birth to much of that which we have in others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/the-confidence-which-we-have-in-ourselves-gives-birth-to-much-of-that/) [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) > [“There is a kind of greatness which does not depend upon fortune;It is a certain manner that distinguishes us, and which seems to destine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/there-is-a-kind-of-greatness-which-does-not-depend-upon-fortune-it-is/) [La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) [Explore all 9 La Rochefoucauld quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/) ## More Happiness quotes > [Life is full of change. 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ASHTON](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-j-ashton/) > [I can skate beautifully. While performing on ice I always try to please the audience and to win as well. Being artistic is very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evgeni-plushenko/i-can-skate-beautifully-while-performing-on-ice-i-always-try-to/) [Evgeni Plushenko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evgeni-plushenko/) > [Sometimes we wish for the feel but we never understand that we have to give a lot to get the feel !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reynolds/sometimes-we-wish-for-the-feel-but-we-never-understand-that-we-have/) [Robert Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-reynolds/) > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It was beautiful. He thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life; that, having seen it, he could die content,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mira-grant/it-was-beautiful-he-thought-he-had-never-seen-anything-so-beautiful/) [Mira Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mira-grant/) > [The happy have whole days,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colley-cibber/the-happy-have-whole-days/) [Colley Cibber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colley-cibber/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [I've got nothing to do today but smile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-ve-got-nothing-to-do-today-but-smile/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Her dignity consists in being unknown to the world; her glory is in the esteem of her husband; her pleasures in the happiness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/her-dignity-consists-in-being-unknown-to-the-world-her-glory-is-in/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-size-of-a-man-s-understanding-might-always-be-justly-measured-by/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Positive thinking evokes more energy, more initiative, more happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/positive-thinking-evokes-more-energy-more-initiative-more-happiness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When you have a choice, choose happy!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pancho-barnes/when-you-have-a-choice-choose-happy/) Pancho Barnes [Browse all 40,288 Happiness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It is a kind of happiness to know just how unhappy we could be.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "La Rochefoucauld" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-how-unhappy-we-could-be/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Happiness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-how-unhappy-we-could-be/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0f/la-rochefoucauld-34349_happiness_it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-h_1778788.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0f/la-rochefoucauld-34349_happiness_it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-h_1778788.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0f/la-rochefoucauld-34349_happiness_it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-h_1778788.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is a kind of happiness to know just how unhappy we could be.” — La Rochefoucauld", "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": "La Rochefoucauld", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-rochefoucauld/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It is a kind of happiness...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-how-unhappy-we-could-be/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-rochefoucauld/it-is-a-kind-of-happiness-to-know-just-how-unhappy-we-could-be/#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 } } ] } ```