fortune and fame don't always bring happiness

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.

Hosea Ballou

How much is a great memory worth? The sound of a child laughing, sharing a sunset with the one you love. Is there any price you wouldn’t pay to have five more minutes with someone whose gone?

But sometimes we neglect to pursue beautiful memories we could later cherish, and instead spend our time and energy pursuing money, success, and fame. Whether or not we admit it, we believe they are the source of happiness.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

William Bruce Cameron

I was reading a biography of Howard Hughes and was struck by the sadness and dysfunction of his life. Hughes was wildly successful by the world’s standards – handsome, successful and wealthy. As a pilot he flew around the world and set world records; he was a successful engineer and founder of Hughes Aircraft; he was a business magnate and Hollywood movie producer, and he was a billionaire. Yet his life was anything but happy.

Fame and fortune did not bring Howard Hughes happiness. He became a recluse, shutting himself off from the world. He often locked himself away in a hotel for months on end, watching movies around the clock, often the same movie repeatedly. He had servants on hand to take care of his many requests, but spent almost no time with the people in his life, including his wife.

Whatever you decide to do make sure it makes you happy.

Paulo Coelho

Hughes had everything money could buy. He had relationships with Hollywood stars. He had a brilliant mind.  He had people who would bring him anything he desired, night or day. But when asked if he was happy, his answer was simply, “No.”

Howard Hughes spent the last 26 years of his life cut off from the world, a hermit addicted to painkillers, living a life of bizarre eccentricities. He died at the age of 70, a shell of the man he once was.

Sometimes it’s helpful to pause and reflect on the lives of those who “have it all”, to realize that fortune and fame don’t guarantee happiness. How disappointing it would be to spend your entire life pursuing money and success only to attain them and realize that these are not the meaningful accomplishments in life.

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.

Frederick Koenig