"The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up"
About this Quote
The sentence works because it redefines maturity as flexibility, not firmness. “Preserving and clinging” casts the reader as a conservator in a museum of their own past, polishing a single “mode” of happiness until it becomes untouchable. Morgan’s real move is to make disappointment the villain: not the change itself, but the entitlement that says pleasure should stay in the shape we first met it. That’s a sharp psychological observation dressed up as calm prose. It implies that much suffering isn’t caused by loss, but by the insistence that our earlier selves had already found the final version of contentment.
The child metaphor is doing heavy lifting without sounding preachy. A child who doesn’t “grow up” isn’t charming; it’s tragic. By likening happiness to something alive and developing, Morgan smuggles in an ethical demand: love your life enough to let it evolve. The subtext is unsentimental and strangely hopeful. If happiness can change forms, then it can return in new ones - but only if you stop mistaking nostalgia for loyalty.
Quote Details
| Topic | Embrace Change |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Morgan, Charles. (2026, January 15). The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-art-of-living-does-not-consist-in-preserving-140138/
Chicago Style
Morgan, Charles. "The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-art-of-living-does-not-consist-in-preserving-140138/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-art-of-living-does-not-consist-in-preserving-140138/. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.
