--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was not unhappy, except one day at a…" description: "\"“I was not unhappy, except one day at a time.”\" — Marcel Proust" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd1/marcel-proust-114_time_i-was-not-unhappy-except-one-day-at-a-ti_1882299.jpg" --- # I was not unhappy, except one day at a time. ![“I was not unhappy, except one day at a time.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd1/marcel-proust-114_time_i-was-not-unhappy-except-one-day-at-a-ti_1882299.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd1/marcel-proust-114_time_i-was-not-unhappy-except-one-day-at-a-ti_1882299.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd1/marcel-proust-114_time_i-was-not-unhappy-except-one-day-at-a-ti_1882299.jpg) > ““I was not unhappy, except one day at a time.”” [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. Happiness can be found in living one day at a time. **In simple terms:** Live each day, not longing for more. Key Takeaway Focus on present moments. Themes mindfulness contentment temporal perspective Mood reflective calm Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - daily journaling - meditation - simple pleasures Key Concepts Existentialism psychology well‑being Questions to Reflect On - What brings you joy today? - How do you balance present and future? A Different Perspective Risk of neglecting long‑term goals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Day Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-time-306508/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Unhappy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unhappy/) [Unhappy Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unhappy-day-2666897/) ## Related quotes > [Whoever makes me unhappy for a day, I will make suffer a lifetime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/empress-dowager-cixi/whoever-makes-me-unhappy-for-a-day-i-will-make-suffer-a-lifetime/) [Empress Dowager Cixi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/empress-dowager-cixi/) > [Anybody who has cancer, they take it one day at a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-kelly/anybody-who-has-cancer-they-take-it-one-day-at-a-time/) [Jim Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-kelly/) > [“Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-lu/each-day-means-a-new-twenty-four-hours-each-day-means-everything-s/) [Marie Lu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-lu/) > [I take my work one day at a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/smriti-irani/i-take-my-work-one-day-at-a-time/) [Smriti Irani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/smriti-irani/) > [Shit happens-one day at a time!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/shit-happens-one-day-at-a-time/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I take life one day at a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ghostface-killah/i-take-life-one-day-at-a-time/) [Ghostface Killah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ghostface-killah/) > [I typically take life one day at a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aviva/i-typically-take-life-one-day-at-a-time/) [Aviva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aviva/) > [I'm very much a 'one day at a time' kind of guy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kane/i-m-very-much-a-one-day-at-a-time-kind-of-guy/) [Kane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kane/) > [Live one day at a time, and never be afraid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tammy-faye-bakker/live-one-day-at-a-time-and-never-be-afraid/) [Tammy Faye Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tammy-faye-bakker/) > [Take things one day at a time & let things fall into place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/take-things-one-day-at-a-time-let-things-fall-into-place/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I live my life one day at a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-duccini/i-live-my-life-one-day-at-a-time/) [Ruth Duccini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-duccini/) > [Take one day at a time. Allow yourself to change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-henderson/take-one-day-at-a-time-allow-yourself-to-change/) [Paul Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-henderson/) > [You can start your day over at any time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patty-sheehan/you-can-start-your-day-over-at-any-time/) [Patty Sheehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patty-sheehan/) > [One day at a time is all we do. One day at a time is good for you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lennon/one-day-at-a-time-is-all-we-do-one-day-at-a-time-is-good-for-you/) [John Lennon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lennon/) > [“You can change your life, one day at a time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/you-can-change-your-life-one-day-at-a-time/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) ## More by Marcel Proust > [“machinery' of life at Versailles; and was able, too, to persuade herself that her silence, a shade of good humour or of arrogance on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/machinery-of-life-at-versailles-and-was-able-too-to-persuade-herself/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [ “For her \[Françoise\], wealth was like a necessary condition without which virtue would lack both merit and charm. 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 Time quotes > ['Mad TV' is one of my most favorite shows of all time and is a huge part of my obsession with sketch comedy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shane-dawson/mad-tv-is-one-of-my-most-favorite-shows-of-all-time-and-is-a-huge/) [Shane Dawson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shane-dawson/) > [These joys were so trifling as to be as imperceptible as grains of gold among the sand, and in moments of depression she saw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/these-joys-were-so-trifling-as-to-be-as-imperceptible-as-grains-of/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“William didn't look like he'd be difficult about anything - he was thin and sandy-haired and already wore eyeglasses like his father. 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Keep hoping; keep believing because He is working behind the scenes. He's going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-osteen/resist-discouragement-by-speaking-his-word-over-your-future-keep/) [Joel Osteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-osteen/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [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/) > [“The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life, and its countenance is irritating, repellent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-future-is-only-an-indifferent-void-no-one-cares-about-but-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [“Conception is the beginning of human life. From the time that an ovum is fertilized a new life begins that is neither that of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/declaration-on-procured-abortion-congregation-for-the-doctrine-of-the-faith-1974/conception-is-the-beginning-of-human-life-from-the-time-that-an-ovum/) [Declaration on Procured Abortion Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 1974](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/declaration-on-procured-abortion-congregation-for-the-doctrine-of-the-faith-1974/) > [“You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed. 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