The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing itself in schemes of future felicity... The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

Always Away Before Breaking Felicity Flights Future Hope Human Human Mind Immediately Itself Losing Mind Moment Natural Never Objects Pleasure Present Present Moment Satisfied Schemes

Related Quotes

You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that is only a mind projection - you cannot cope with the future.

— Eckhart Tolle

AlwaysCannotCope

No mind is much employed upon the present: recollection and anticipation fill up almost all our moments

— Samuel Johnson

AnticipationMindMoments

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

ConcentrateDreamDwell

Chronocanine Envy:
Sadness experienced when one realized that, unlike one's dog, one cannot live only in the present tense. As Kierkegaard said, "Life must be lived forward.

— Douglas Coupland

futurepresent-momenttime

A tavern chair is the throne of human felicity.

— Samuel Johnson

ChairFelicityHuman