# "Pursuit of Happiness" ? Are you sure? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 10, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pursuit-of-happiness-are-you-sure/57424 "2006-04-10T20:49:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dylan_S)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pursuit-of-happiness-are-you-sure/57424/1 "2006-04-10T20:49:12Z")
I always kind of liked this title (the title of Davids super Rails presentation), but then I saw this quote today: “The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you’ll never find it.” by C.P Snow I’d have to agree with this quote. It’s the same as love… go looking for it, and you’ll never find it. Soooo… David, emmerce yourself in Tao Te Ching, some Buddhist texts… etc, meditate… and come back with a title to your next presentation 🙂 All wise and profound Rails proverb suggestions welcome 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dylan_S)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pursuit-of-happiness-are-you-sure/57424/2 "2006-04-10T22:27:06Z")
I know if I want to engage in the pursuit of misery, I’ll look into PHP, Perl, Java, et al. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dylan_S)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pursuit-of-happiness-are-you-sure/57424/3 "2006-04-11T06:29:05Z")
On Apr 10, 2006, at 12:46 PM, Dylan S. wrote: > presentation 🙂 > > All wise and profound Rails proverb suggestions welcome 🙂 So…are you really suggesting that if you want to be happy, you ought to run around blindly doing things at random? Sounds like a sure way to make yourself miserable, if you ask me. I was unhappy with Python, so I went looking for something to make me happy. I found Ruby. If I had just closed my eyes and picked a new proglang at random, I doubt I would have found as much joy as I did by purposefully looking for joy. I’d be very curious to see the context in which that quote was given, because I have a hunch it is being used wildly out of context here. 😉 - Jamis ---
**Author:** ![Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dylan_S)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 6:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pursuit-of-happiness-are-you-sure/57424/4 "2006-04-11T06:59:57Z")
Jamis B. wrote: > On Apr 10, 2006, at 12:46 PM, Dylan S. wrote: > > > presentation 🙂 > > > > All wise and profound Rails proverb suggestions welcome 🙂 > > So…are you really suggesting that if you want to be happy, you > ought to run around blindly doing things at random? Sounds like a > sure way to make yourself miserable, if you ask me. > > I was unhappy with Python, so I went looking for something to make me > happy. I found Ruby. If I had just closed my eyes and picked a new > proglang at random, I doubt I would have found as much joy as I did > by purposefully looking for joy. > > I’d be very curious to see the context in which that quote was given, > because I have a hunch it is being used wildly out of context here. 😉 > > - Jamis I’m not familiar with the context of the original poster’s quotation, but it’s a Buddhist conception that to “pursue” happiness is to identify it as something external to the self, which is folly, because the self is all and nothing exists but the self, which contains both happiness and misery. Of course, this might be a bit off topic for this list 🙂 Jeff C.man ---
**Author:** ![Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dylan_S)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pursuit-of-happiness-are-you-sure/57424/5 "2006-04-11T09:19:56Z")
DHH is not pursuing happiness in the general form… he is creating it, for himself, and for us, his true followers… 😉 On Tuesday, April 11, 2006, at 6:59 AM, Jeff C.man wrote: > > sure way to make yourself miserable, if you ask me. > > – > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) Mikkel B. www.strongside.dk - Football Portal(DK) ting.minline.dk - Buy Old Stuff!(DK) ---
**Author:** ![Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dylan_S)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pursuit-of-happiness-are-you-sure/57424/6 "2006-04-11T23:18:48Z")
“I’d be very curious to see the context in which that quote was given, because I have a hunch it is being used wildly out of context here. ;)” lol… exactly 🙂 and I think Jeff’s explanation was excellent. i just needed to spice up my day of rails with some self-reflection and eastern philosophy. if every rails source file started with a random intellectual quote, i’d be more productive… i swear… sorry guys, i think i forgot the [OT] tag on subject of this post =) On 11 Apr 2006 07:18:26 -0000, Mikkel B. \< ---
**Author:** ![Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Dylan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dylan_S)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pursuit-of-happiness-are-you-sure/57424/7 "2006-04-12T03:41:18Z")
On 4/11/06, Dylan S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > “I’d be very curious to see the context in which that quote was given, > because I have a hunch it is being used wildly out of context here. ;)” > > lol… exactly 🙂 > and I think Jeff’s explanation was excellent. > i just needed to spice up my day of rails with some self-reflection and > eastern philosophy. > if every rails source file started with a random intellectual quote, i’d be > more productive… i swear… Wonder why Matz didn’t borrow THAT aspect of Perl. Every Perl source file has nice quote…albiet from LOR. Larry Wall has a great sense of humour 🙂 …as evidenced by his ‘State of the Onion’ musings 🙂 -bakki