/me slinks away while resisting the urge to quote Hobbes....who defined happiness as resisting the tendencies of Natural Man.

'No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.' But then again...we HAVE a social contract, right? LMAO. With GWB as our fearless leader.

Of course, one could define Happiness via Maslow... and his hierarchy of needs. But so few people reach self actualization!!

For me....Happiness is intellectual and personal freedom. No artificial constraints impeding my ability to give this life all I've got. I *like* challenge, and I really don't want safety -- other than basic physical safety which will allow me to pursue my goals.

I do wish happiness for my friends and family, also...and I will help them when needed. But mostly I wish them the strength to conquer their own problems.

Sounds kind of Ayn Rand-ian, huh?

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney