
The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.
quote by John F. Kennedy

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The full use of your powers along lines of excellence. - definition of happiness by John F. Kennedy.
quote by John F. Kennedy

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Tear Tram Lines
This town has lost its sparkle,
The stars have lost their shine,
This town’s too full of echoes,
And my face too full of lines.
The shore has lost its tide,
The waves have lost their rhyme,
This town’s too full of tears,
And my smile too full of lines.
The clock has stopped it’s ticking
My feet dance out of time,
This town’s too full of yesterdays,
And my frown too full of lines
The cinema’s showing it’s last reel,
The pubs have all called time,
This towns too full of actors
And my script too full of unread lines….
Theses, faeces, syntheses
O the language of the thesis!
O the octopus of Academe!
‘As I argued in my previous book,
‘Some definitions of ‘definition’ in contemporary philosophy’ –
an argument which I hope to pursue
in a following volume, (and I quote) :
‘to define what we mean by ‘definition’
we must first consider
the nature of definition:
can it be itself defined? Is
its definition itself a retreat
from what definition defines? …’
and the wood of academic chairs
creaking as a lecture ends,
from which once the young sap rose
like the hope of definition
dries, decays and dessicates.
poem by Michael Shepherd

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Lines
I asked
Happiness
To give me
Some lines
To write
Happily…
It grimaced
And said -
There was
Nothing
In its booty.
It felt so empty.
So to help me
It went out of the way
To borrow some lines
From sadness and gave
Those to me.
So here I am
Writing some lines
To you, borrowed
From my friends -
Messrs. Happiness
And Sadness who
Were kind enough
To lend some lines
To me....for thee....
poem by Aparna Chatterjee

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Poseidonians
The Poseidonians forgot the Greek language
after so many centuries of mingling
with Tyrrhenians, Latins, and other foreigners.
The only thing surviving from their ancestors
was a Greek festival, with beautiful rites,
with lyres and flutes, contests and wreaths.
And it was their habit toward the festival's end
to tell each other about their ancient customs
and once again to speak Greek names
that only few of them still recognized.
And so their festival always had a melancholy ending
because they remebered that they too were Greeks,
they too once upon a time were citizens of Magna Graecia;
and how low they'd fallen now, what they'd become,
living and speaking like barbarians,
cut off so disastrously from the Greek way of life.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy

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Such happiness as life is capable of comes from the full participation of all our powers in the endeavor to wrest from each changing situations of experience its own full and unique meaning.
quote by John Dewey

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Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling true happiness involves the full use of one's powers and talents.
quote by John W. Gardner

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A great Friend
The definition of a great
friend is.....
Sticking by you no matter what.
The definition of a great
friend is...
To dry away wet tears when you are you are down
The definition of a great
friend is....
To unstick you, when your struck
The definition of a great
friend is....
To help you through the hard times
The definition of a great
friend is....
To tell you when are wrong, to teach you to do riight.
The Definition of a great
friend is.....
to pray with you through hard times, to give a hand when your in need and hug you and let you see.
The definition of a
great friend is true, The definition of a great friend is you! ! ! ! ! ! !
poem by Dallas Turner

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Consistent Excellence
Go...
Ask anyone of your neighbors,
How difficult it is...
To produce consistent excellence.
With a doing done you do,
To ensure your life...
Is lived to make sense.
With the best from yourself,
To show those your excellence...
Is not some luck that has been sent.
Your excellence is what is meant.
Go...
Ask anyone of your neighbors,
And when you are done...
Ask your friends and family too,
If consistent excellence with a bit of sweat...
Is something done you know they do,
For themselves.
And nothing from them to you to prove.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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I think the definition of an artist is not necessarily tied into excellence or talent; an artist is somebody who, if you took away their freedom to make art, would lose their mind.
quote by Richard Price

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Temethos, Antiochian, A.D. 400
Lines written by young Temethos, madly in love.
The tile: 'Emonidis' -the favourite
of Antiochos Epiphanis; a very good-looking young man
from Samosata. But if the lines come out
ardent, full of feeling, it's because Emonidis
(belonging to another, much older time:
the 137th year of the Greek kingdom,
maybe a bit earlier) is in the poem
merely as a name -a suitable one nevertheless.
The poem gives voice to the love Temethos feels,
a beautiful kind of love, worthy of him.
We the initiated
his intimate friends- we the initiated
know about whom those lines were written.
The unsuspecting Antiochians read simply 'Emonidis'.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy

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Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
The Sound Of Grecian Music
The sound of Grecian music where the Greek diners eat
From the Athenian restaurant it floats across the street
And a beautiful Greek songstress with the music sings along
One could listen to the music and the singer all night long.
Greek music and Greek poetry is in a class of it's own
And the legends of Greek history by history not outgrown
And there is life in Greek music it has a bubbling sound
It makes you want to shake your feet and to it dance around.
And when the diners have drunk and eaten the dining tables are put away
And the dancers will be dancing till the small hours of the new day
They sing as they dance in a Greek ring around the timbered floor
And enjoy themselves as the Greeks do for three hours or even more.
The marvellous sound of Grecian music from the Athenian restaurant nearby
Is food to the soul and senses and something to enjoy
To the quiet street on a friday night such happiness they bring
Till the small hours of the morning they laugh and dance and sing.
poem by Francis Duggan

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They are starving for happiness
They are starving for happiness
Their belly is full of mess
Joy is their food
Without it their dead
Starving all way of hunger
Cry in every saw they looked
Fingers are in cold, shivering
They are starving for happiness
Mind looked in every crying eye
Drops let fall. As they saw
No mistakes done, no wonder
They are starving for happiness
Open hair, all scenes amazing
No soft blow of air, nothing
They can’t survive more
They are starving for happiness
Heart full of sorrows, no glow
Hands red, can’t move long
Lot of hunger, full of blood
They are starving for happiness
poem by Monica kulal

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notes about Abel from a sexually deprived religious woman
If we are to believe in a God,
then he definitely
was in a good mood
when he interfered
in the creation of Abel.
In Old Greek,
the word blessed was used
in pagan literature
to describe the highest
state of happiness,
usually enjoyed by
the gods and goddesses.
Abel definitely looks
like he was built out
of divine material
and he certainly seems
to enjoy it.
And he has every right
to do so.
His toned body shows
the sensual movement
of his hard muscles with
every turn he makes.
Subtle ink patterns
swirl around his left arm
and decorate his body
just above the waist,
inviting you to discover
what is hidden by his briefs.
His dark hair and black eyes
give him the look of an ancient
gladiator.
With his strong jaws
and teasing mouth you
easily imagine him a Greek warrior.
And his tights and buttocks…
well what else
is there left to say.
They look strong enough
to climb the Mount Olympus
all the way into the Heavens.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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What Happiness Is
happiness
is bliss
happiness,
is when you get a new puppy
happiness,
is when you get married
happiness,
is when you go on you first date
happiness,
is making your own decisions
happiness,
is graduating
happiness,
is getting you first job
happiness,
is falling in love
happiness
is being proud of who you are
happiness
is bliss
happiness,
is glowing
happiness,
is fun
happiness,
is an amazing feeling
happiness,
is when you smile all day
happiness,
is giving someone a hug just because you can
happiness,
is that light in your eyes
happiness,
is what makes the world go around
happiness,
is bliss

Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.
quote by Nadine Gordimer

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Definition
Definition
What does that mean?
The meaning of life
The meaning of who you are
The meaning of our dreams
How can we define?
What all that really means
Is it the definition of?
Life
Dose that mean we can be
Anything we want to be
Or is it simply
Do what you say
And be forever free
Is it the definition of?
Who you are
Accept your fallacies
And be a better
Human being
Is it the definition of?
Our dreams
Dream the impossible
And live up to your dreams
And make them all real
Who really knows?
What it all really means
poem by Kaila George

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My happiness is all fading,
My happiness is all fading,
My happiness is all fading,
Not near them is even better,
Thoughts that let me know where Iam coming from,
There are many reasons that Iam learning,
This is all that is seen in my clear picture,
There is the happiness that I will live to see this day,
Every moment in life is coming all clear,
My definition is not hard to describe,
That Iam living through alot of hard lessons.
poem by Maxpoet Beauty

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my friends at PH
we must be hope
and excellence
we are both
compassion
and valor
easily we can get badness
in quantity
the road is wide and smooth
and popular
lying close by
in our houses
in front of excellence
the gods have put
sweat, and a long
and narrow road
steep and
obstructed
we shall be the yardsticks
of quality
we now get used
to this environment where
excellence and
refinement are at
most expected.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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