--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Happiness contracted by the cold, forced…" description: "\"“Happiness contracted by the cold, forced to withdraw into itself, to close into its heart, it is there that I find the greatest intensity. It is true ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d18/marcel-proust-114_happiness_happiness-contracted-by-the-cold-forced_814200.jpg" --- # Happiness contracted by the cold, forced to withdraw into… ![“Happiness contracted by the cold, forced to withdraw into itself, to close into its heart, it is there that I find the greatest intensity. It is true that I have only ever experienced it through sadness. But it is always the same.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d18/marcel-proust-114_happiness_happiness-contracted-by-the-cold-forced_814200.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d18/marcel-proust-114_happiness_happiness-contracted-by-the-cold-forced_814200.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d18/marcel-proust-114_happiness_happiness-contracted-by-the-cold-forced_814200.jpg) > ““Happiness contracted by the cold, forced to withdraw into itself, to close into its heart, it is there that I find the greatest intensity. It is true that I have only ever experienced it through sadness. But it is always the same.”” [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Intense happiness often emerges from sadness, revealing deep emotional resonance. **In simple terms:** Sadness can intensify joy. Key Takeaway Accept sadness as part of joy. Themes emotion paradox intensity Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - grief counseling - artistic creation - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does sorrow shape your happiest moments? - Can you find meaning in pain? A Different Perspective Joy may be fleeting without sadness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cold Forced](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cold-forced-296718/) [Greatest Intensity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatest-intensity-296717/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Happiness Contracted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness-contracted-296715/) [Intensity True](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intensity-true-296716/) [Sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sadness/) ## Related quotes > [Perhaps there may come into my art also, no less than into my life, a still deeper note, one of greater unity of passion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/perhaps-there-may-come-into-my-art-also-no-less-than-into-my-life-a/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Now abideth beauty, truth, and intensity; but the greatest of these is intensity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-houellebecq/now-abideth-beauty-truth-and-intensity-but-the-greatest-of-these-is/) [Michel Houellebecq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-houellebecq/) > [“Those men who live with the greatest intensity are often the ones who seem to take least interest in life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/remy-de-gourmont/those-men-who-live-with-the-greatest-intensity-are-often-the-ones-who/) [Remy de Gourmont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/remy-de-gourmont/) > [When you are happy,you will search the person you love the most.But,when you are SAD you will search for the person who LOVES YOU…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reema-chandnani/when-you-are-happy-you-will-search-the-person-you-love-the-most-but/) [Reema Chandnani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reema-chandnani/) > [Sadness flies on the wings of the morning, and out of the heart of darkness comes the light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-giraudoux/sadness-flies-on-the-wings-of-the-morning-and-out-of-the-heart-of/) [Jean Giraudoux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-giraudoux/) > [The big difference between human happiness and sadness? 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She made so little distinction between… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/for-her-fran-oise-wealth-was-like-a-necessary-condition-without-which/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Knowing does not always allow us to prevent, but at least the things that we know, we hold them, if not in our hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/knowing-does-not-always-allow-us-to-prevent-but-at-least-the-things/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Death is in truth an illness from which we recover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/death-is-in-truth-an-illness-from-which-we-recover/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [The bonds that unite another person to our self exist only in our mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-bonds-that-unite-another-person-to-our-self-exist-only-in-our-mind/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [...a writer's works, like the water in an artesian well, mount to a height which is in proportion to the depth to which suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-writer-s-works-like-the-water-in-an-artesian-well-mount-to-a-height/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Then from those profound slumbers we awake in a dawn, not knowing who we are, being nobody, newly born, ready for anything, the brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/then-from-those-profound-slumbers-we-awake-in-a-dawn-not-knowing-who/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Art extracted from the most familiar reality does indeed exist and its domain is perhaps the largest of any.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/art-extracted-from-the-most-familiar-reality-does-indeed-exist-and/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, aplant,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-find-very-reasonable-the-celtic-belief-that-the-souls-of-our-dearly/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When you heard anyone in the middle of a talk which was being deliberately kept off the Affair announce furtively some piece of political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-you-heard-anyone-in-the-middle-of-a-talk-which-was-being/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“We betroth ourselves by proxy, and then feel obliged to marry the intermediary.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/we-betroth-ourselves-by-proxy-and-then-feel-obliged-to-marry-the/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“But the old lady on the contrary, far from justifying her daughter’s fears, felt every time someone of her own age “disappeared” that she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-the-old-lady-on-the-contrary-far-from-justifying-her-daughter-s/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Often it is just lack of imagination that keeps a man from suffering very much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/often-it-is-just-lack-of-imagination-that-keeps-a-man-from-suffering/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When we are nice to others, we generally lose all claim to their respect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-we-are-nice-to-others-we-generally-lose-all-claim-to-their/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Nobility is often no more than the inner aspect which our egotistical feelings assume when we have not yet named and classified them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/nobility-is-often-no-more-than-the-inner-aspect-which-our-egotistical/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) [Explore all 1,113 Marcel Proust quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## More Happiness quotes > [Life is full of change. 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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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pancho-barnes/) [Browse all 40,288 Happiness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Happiness contracted by the cold, forced to withdraw into itself, to close into its heart, it is there that I find the greatest intensity. 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