Recently I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the father said, ‘I love you, and I wish you enough.’
They kissed and the daughter left. The father walked over to the window where I was seated. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but I could not refrain from asking:
‘When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?’
He began to smile. ‘That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.’
He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more.
‘When we said, ‘I wish you enough,’ we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.’
Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more..
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting…
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good- bye.
Pain in life sooner or later will have an upside, and the highs in life don't last forever, so don't take them for granted. Appreciate every moment.
I wish you enough.
Background
John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, delivered this speech for the Commencement Address at Cardigan, his son's high school, on June 3, 2022.
Speech Transcript
Rain, somebody said, is like confetti from heaven. So even the heavens are celebrating this morning, joining the rest of us at this wonderful commencement ceremony.
Before we go any further, graduates, you have an important task to perform because behind you are your parents and guardians. Two or three or four years ago, they drove into Cardigan, dropped you off, helped you get settled and then turned around and drove back out the gates. It was an extraordinary sacrifice for them. They drove down the trail of tears back to an emptier and lonelier house. They did that because the decision about your education, they knew, was about you. It was not about them. That sacrifice and others they made have brought you to this point. But this morning is not just about you. It is also about them, so I hope you will stand up and turn around and give them a great round of applause. Please.
Now when somebody asks me how the remarks at Cardigan went, I will be able to say they were interrupted by applause.
Congratulations, class of 2022. You’ve reached an important milestone. An important stage of your life is behind you. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you it is the easiest stage of your life, but it is in the books. While you’ve been at Cardigan, you have all been a part of an important international community as well. And I think that needs to be particularly recognized.
(At this time, Roberts gave brief remarks in other languages.)
Now around the country today at colleges, high schools, middle schools, commencement speakers are standing before impatient graduates. And they are almost always saying the same things. They will say that today is a commencement exercise. ‘It is a beginning, not an end. You should look forward.’ And I think that is true enough, however, I think if you’re going to look forward to figure out where you’re going, it’s good to know where you’ve been and to look back as well. And I think if you look back to your first afternoon here at Cardigan, perhaps you will recall that you were lonely. Perhaps you will recall that you were a little scared, a little anxious. And now look at you. You are surrounded by friends that you call brothers, and you are confident in facing the next step in your education.
It is worth trying to think why that is so. And when you do, I think you may appreciate that it was because of the support of your classmates in the classroom, on the athletic field and in the dorms.
And as far as the confidence goes, I think you will appreciate that it is not because you succeeded at everything you did, but because with the help of your friends, you were not afraid to fail. And if you did fail, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, it might be time to think about doing something else. But it was not just success, but not being afraid to fail that brought you to this point.
Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.
Now commencement speakers are also expected to give some advice. They give grand advice, and they give some useful tips. The most common grand advice they give is for you to be yourself. It is an odd piece of advice to give people dressed identically, but you should—you should be yourself. But you should understand what that means. Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don’t make any changes. In a certain sense, you should not be yourself. You should try to become something better. People say ‘be yourself’ because they want you to resist the impulse to conform to what others want you to be. But you can’t be yourself if you don’t learn who are, and you can’t learn who you are unless you think about it.
The Greek philosopher Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ And while ‘just do it’ might be a good motto for some things, it’s not a good motto when it’s trying to figure out how to live your life that is before you. And one important clue to living a good life is to not to try to live the good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all.
So that’s the deep advice. Now some tips as you get ready to go to your new school. Other the last couple of years, I have gotten to know many of you young men pretty well, and I know you are good guys. But you are also privileged young men. And if you weren’t privileged when you came here, you are privileged now because you have been here. My advice is: Don’t act like it.
When you get to your new school, walk up and introduce yourself to the person who is raking the leaves, shoveling the snow or emptying the trash. Learn their name and call them by their name during your time at the school.
Another piece of advice: When you pass by people you don’t recognize on the walks, smile, look them in the eye and say hello. The worst thing that will happen is that you will become known as the young man who smiles and says hello, and that is not a bad thing to start with.
You’ve been at a school with just boys. Most of you will be going to a school with girls. I have no advice for you.
I will dictate to you the first note you should write. It will say, ‘Dear [fill in the name of a teacher at Cardigan Mountain School].’ Say: ‘I have started at this new school. We are reading [blank] in English. Football or soccer practice is hard, but I’m enjoying it. Thank you for teaching me.’ Put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it. It will mean a great deal to people who—for reasons most of us cannot contemplate—have dedicated themselves to teaching middle school boys. As I said, that will take you exactly 10 minutes a week. By the end of the school year, you will have sent notes to 40 people. Forty people will feel a little more special because you did, and they will think you are very special because of what you did. No one else is going to carry that dividend during your time at school.
Enough advice. I would like to end by reading some important lyrics. I cited the Greek philosopher Socrates earlier. These lyrics are from the great American philosopher, Bob Dylan. They’re almost 50 years old. He wrote them for his son, Jesse, who he was missing while he was on tour. It lists the hopes that a parent might have for a son and for a daughter. They’re also good goals for a son and a daughter. The wishes are beautiful, they’re timeless. They’re universal. They’re good and true, except for one: It is the wish that gives the song its title and its refrain. That wish is a parent’s lament. It’s not a good wish. So these are the lyrics from Forever Young by Bob Dylan:
May God bless you and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
And may you stay forever young
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
And may you stay forever young
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young
Thank you.
I love reading quotes because they can be very inspiring and can also make you think about things in a completely new way. Here are 20+ quotes about happiness and happiness quotes to inspire you on your journey toward a happier life. 🙂
Quotes About Happiness | Happiness Quotes20+ Quotes about Happiness | Inspirational Happiness Quotes
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“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 Keonig
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Herman Cain
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
Quotes About Happiness | Happiness Quotes👉 Products We Recommend:
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” – Helen Keller
“Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness.” – Buddha
“Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different.” – Stacey Charter
I Wish You Happiness
I wish you happiness. Not the kind that bubbles up and then disappears, but the kind you feel deep in your bones.
I wish you joy. I hope that you always find a friend to laugh with and a shoulder to cry on.
“It’s rebellious, in a way, to choose joy, to choose to dance, to choose to love your life.”
– Cold Tangerines
I hope that your days are filled with endless adventures and you stay up late into the night talking about your philosophy of life and what this all means.
I wish you exciting times and boring times, times to rejoice over and times to mourn.
I wish you a full spectrum of life, bursting at the seams with hues of color.
I wish you a freshly-picked flower on a rainy day and chocolate for any occasion.
I hope that you find the courage to do something courageous every once in a while, and the bravery it takes to stand up to your adversaries.
I hope your life is filled with life and in between calm moments of peace, there are always speckled moments of excitement.
But most of all, I wish you happiness and success in your life.
The Secret to Happiness is Already in Front of You
If you’re looking for the secret to happiness, here it is:
You have to choose this.
It’s that simple, and that complex.
No one else can make you be happy or walk this journey for you.
You have to choose this.
And after you choose to be happy, you have to commit to making it happen. Knowing that it is just going to happen, instead of hoping or wishing that one day it might happen.
It happens when you make it happen.
That’s not to say you should force anything to happen, just that you need to be putting in consistent, daily effort.
Effort on what?
Lots of things. Gratitude, meditation, exercise, forgiveness, mindset, personal development. Anything you want to do to become a happier person.
Study self help books daily. Read inspirational quotes. It’s amazing to see that humans throughout history have already figured out everything you need to know about being happy and fulfilled with your life.
Seriously, look at our recovery tips or go read a bunch of inspirational quotes. They are full of centuries of wisdom from people who know their stuff.
Write down three things you’re grateful for every day. Gratitude takes whatever situation or circumstances you have and makes it into something worth being grateful for. With a tiny mindset shift to “I’m so thankful for…” you can turn what you already have into enough.
Exercise if you’re feeling depressed. Eat something healthy. Drink lots of water. Having a healthy body can only help your mind.
Forgive people. Forgive your past. Forgive yourself, for everything past, present, and future.
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
– Buddha
And work on improving your mindset about things above all else. How can you see this in a positive way? Always look for the positive in any situation. How would a happy person act? How would you behave if you were a person who loved themselves? And so on.
That’s it. That’s all there is to happiness.
Choose to be happy, commit to making it happen, and then take consistent, daily action to work on yourself and get there.
More Happiness Quotes | Quotes About Happiness
“The grass is always greener where you water it.” – Unknown
“The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.” – Brian Tracy
“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” – Mary Lou Retton
Happiness Quotes | Quotes About Happiness“I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives.” – Dalai Lama
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Life will bring you pain all by itself. Your responsibility is to create joy.” – Milton Erickson
“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha
“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.” – Ashley Montagu
Quotes for Happiness | Inspiring Happy Quotes
“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.’
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.” – Chinese Proverb
“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” – Epictetus
“To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.” – Albert Camus
“Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.” – Jack Kornfield
“Be happy, and a reason will come along.” – Robert Brault
“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” – Dale Carnegie
What’s your favorite quote about happiness? 🙂
Happiness Quotes for Life | Quotes About Being Happy
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