I am convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends more upon the way in which we meet the events of life than upon the nature of those events themselves.

Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) German philologist, diplomat

Letter to Charlotte von Stein (12 Jan 1824) [tr. Couper (1849)]

Full text.

Alt. trans.:

• "For the light and shade, the happiness and unhappiness of a man's life, depend on the disposition with which he regards it. " [Stebbing (1849)]
• "I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves."