Cheerfulness

“ Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully, to look round cheerfully, and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. ”

“ It is this character of cheerfulness that so much endears the flower to us; as it brightens up our hedgerows after the dulness of winter, the harbinger of many brighter perhaps, but not more acceptable, beauties to come, it is the very [230] emblem of cheerfulness. ”

“ It wreathes the face with smiles, creates friends, promotes cheerfulness, awakens tenderness, and scatters happiness. It fills the heart with joy, it robs sorrow of its pain and makes of earth a very heaven below. ”

“ They who will can surround themselves with persistent gladness, and they who will can gather about them the thick folds of an everbrooding and enveloping sorrow. Courage, cheerfulness, thankfulness, buoyancy, resolution, are all closely connected with a sane estimate of the relative proportions of the bright and the dark in a human life. ”

“ There is an atmosphere of benevolence and cheerfulness breathing round, which penetrates to my very heart. I know not when I have felt so quietly—so entirely happy—so full of sympathy—so light-hearted—so inclined to shut out the world, and its cares and vanities, and "fleet the time as they did i' the golden age." ”

“ Cheerfulness bears the same friendly regard to the mind as to the body: it banishes all anxious care and discontent, soothes and composes the passions, and keeps the soul in a perpetual calm. But, having already touched on this last consideration, I shall here take notice, that the world in which we are placed is filled with innumerable objects that are proper to raise and keep alive this happy temper of mind. ”

“ This sanguine, happy temper, is merely another form of the cheerfulness recommended to general adoption.
I contend, nevertheless, that to bid a man be habitually cheerful, he not being so already, is like bidding him treble his fortune, or add a cubit to his stature. The quality of a cheerful, buoyant temperament partly belongs to the original cast of the constitution —like the bone, the muscle, the power of memory, the aptitude for science or for music; and is partly the outcome of the whole manner of life. ”

“ In answer to the question, "How shall we overcome temptation," a noted writer said, "Cheerfulness is the first thing, cheerfulness is the second, and cheerfulness is the third." A habit of cheerfulness, enabling one to transmute apparent misfortunes into real blessings, is a fortune to a young man or young woman just crossing the threshold of active life. ”

“ What contributes more to health or happiness than a vigorous will? A habit of directing a firm and steady will upon those things which tend to produce harmony of thought will bring happiness and contentment; the will, rightly drilled,—and divinely guided,—can drive out all discordant thoughts, and usher in the reign of perpetual harmony. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of forming a habit of cheerfulness early in life. The serene optimist is one whose mind has dwelt so long upon the sunny side of life that he has acquired a habit of cheerfulness. ”

“ The reward of persistency will infallibly come, in the fading out of the sullenness or depression, and the advent of real cheerfulness and kindliness in their stead. Smooth the brow, brighten the eye, contract the dorsal rather than the ventral aspect of the frame, and speak in a major key, pass the genial compliment, and your heart must be frigid indeed if it do not gradually thaw! ”

“ Humility, patience, meekness, benignity, bearing one another's burden, condescension, softness of heart, cheerfulness, cordiality, compassion, forgiving injuries, simplicity, candour—all, in short of that sort of little virtues. They, like unobtrusive violets, love the shade ”

“ The cheerfulness, which at an earlier period of my life might have been a copious spring supplying my letters with a stream of pleasant sentiments and feelings, has been chilled even to freezing by advancing years, and yet, to do myself justice, though this may have dulled the activity and liveliness of my epistles, I think it has not cooled the kindly warmth of heart with which I write to my friends and least of all to my children. ”

“ Help him to grasp that phrase—My men; help him to realise that their worries are his worries, their amusements his amusements; help him to understand the value of cheerfulness when everything is damnable—utterly damnable. ”

“ And yet, what could be more necessary than cheerfulness? ”

“ Come, let us take Cheerfulness as a companion. Let us say farewell to Worrying. Cheerfulness will bid us ignore perplexities and annoyances; and help us to rise above them. God loves a cheerful liver; and when we consider the sin and sorrow, the poverty and ignorance, on every side of us, 312 we may well hold our peace from all words but those of gratitude and thanksgiving. Worrying is self-torment. ”

“ But cheerfulness is the light of the soul, and the sunshine of life. It is an alleviator of human sorrow, an exhauster of oppressive cares. Jesting is frequently criminal and foolish; [Pg 98] but cheerfulness is one of the convoys of religion—the festival spirit filling the heart with harmony and happiness. ”

“ In seasons of cheerfulness, no temper could be more cheerful than hers, or possess, in a greater degree, that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself. ”

“ But they are utter strangers to that genuine hilarity of heart which imparts perennial cheerfulness to the countenances of all who are blessed with it, and which springs from a consciousness—both of good motives and good actions. ”

“ To the same person, however, he recommended the cultivation of a wholesome naturalness in religion which would ensure acknowledgment of its beauty in those around her:—­
“There is no sin in looking cheerful. ’Rejoice evermore’; and if it is our duty always to be filled with joy, it is our duty to appear what we are in reality I hope, however, your friends know how to distinguish between cheerfulness and levity. ”

“ That which befits us, embosomed in beauty and wonder as we are, is cheerfulness and courage, and the endeavor to realize our aspirations. ”

“ Whether it be, that the view of sprightliness seems the fore-runner of pleasure to ourselves; or whether we judge all within to be innocent, where all without is serene; various, according to sentiment, or circumstance, as may be the motive, the result is nearly universal; that those who approach us with cheerfulness, are sure to be met with kindness. ”

“ I can’t pretend to be cheerful.” ‘Assume an air of cheerfulness, and presently you will be cheerful, in spite of yourself.’ Awful. To live like that would be to miss suddenly finding the hidden something that would make you cheerful for ever. ”

“ Gentleness and cheerfulness, these come before all morality; they are the perfect duties. ”

“ We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real cheerfulness amongst us. ”

“ Now we can all serve or help others by our cheerfulness and amiability. A cheerful person creates a wholesome moral atmosphere around him, and exerts an invigorating influence upon his environments
There is great merit also in cheerfulness, when it is cultivated from a supernatural motive, when it is the fruit of divine, and fraternal charity. It requires sell-control: and self-denial to maintain cheerfulness under all circumstances - in sickness, in pain, in sorrow, in poverty, in misunderstanding, and in, unpleasant surroundings. ”

“ Cheerfulness is also an excellent wearing quality. It has been called the bright weather of the heart. ”

“ And who so likely to have such blessing as those who not only say 'Our Father which art in Heaven,' but believing what they say, 'try to walk with Him in love, as dear children.' Such persons diffuse cheerfulness all around them ”

“ Cheerfulness is just as natural to the heart of a man in strong health as color to his cheek; and wherever there is habitual Disease of body. gloom, there must be either bad air, unwholesome food, improperly severe labor, or erring habits of life. ”

“ A CHEERFUL DISPOSITION. Every boy and girl should cultivate a cheerful disposition. You will have grief and trouble, and must shed many a tear; but cheerfulness does more than anything else to lighten the burdens of life. ”

“ And does not the fact of cheerfulness being generally considered as the reward of labor, teach us a pleasant and a useful lesson—that cheerfulness may be procured by industry—by always doing something, and by always having something to do? ”

“ And so of cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more of it remains. ”

“ His text and his sermon—which may be shortly summed in the following sentence—be kind, for in kindness to others lies the only true pleasure to be gained in life; be cheerful, even to the point of egotistic self-satisfaction, for through cheerfulness only is the flow of this incessant kindliness of thought and service possible. ”

“ I felt an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, to increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness. ”

“ Upon the importance of cheerfulness, a recent writer, a physician with a large practice, and a man of keen perceptions, says: “One of the most important directions of all is personal and subjective. Cultivate with the utmost force possible the habit of cheerfulness. ”

“ Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness,—an open and noble temper. ”

“ An inward cheerfulness is an implicit praise and thanksgiving to Providence under all its dispensations. It is a kind of acquiescence in the state wherein we are placed, and a secret approbation of the Divine will in his conduct towards man. ”

“ You just hurry up a little, and I'll show you the sunshine-man this morning. It's foggy and cold, but if one look at him doesn't cheer you up so that you'll want to whistle, then I'm no judge of human nature. ”

“ Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within as on the state of things without and around us. ”

“ Smiles's work entitled "Self-Help," we find an analogous strain of remarks:—
"To wait patiently, however, man must work cheerfully. Cheerfulness is an excellent working quality, imparting great elasticity to the character. ”

“ Why not make earnest effort to confer that pleasure on others?
—L. M. Child.
234 Cheerfulness smoothes the road of life.
—German.
235 Cheerfulness is full of significance: it suggests good health, a clear conscience, and a soul at peace with all human nature.
—Charles Kingsley.
236 Chide a friend in private, and praise him in public.
—Solon.
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237 A CHILD'S SERMON. A writer once told how a little child preached a sermon to him.
"Is your father at home?" I asked a small child at our village doctor's doorstep.
"No," she said, "he's away." ”

“ Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman, — repose in energy. ”

“ They formed these words: "Do a kindness to some one every day." The prince followed the advice, and became the happiest boy in the realm.
"Happiness," says one writer, "is a mosaic, composed of many smaller stones." It is the little acts of kindness, the little courtesies, the disposition to be accommodating, to be helpful, to be sympathetic, to be unselfish, to be careful not to wound the feelings, not to expose the sore spots, to be charitable of the weaknesses of others, to be considerate,—these are the little things which, added up at night, are found to be the secret of a happy day. ”

“ Are not flowers appropriate gifts to persons of all ages, in any conceivable circumstances in which they are placed? So the heart's good cheer and deeds of kindness are always acceptable to children and youth, to busy men and women, to the aged, and to a world of invalids. ”