Quotation by

Ursula K. Le Guin

I certainly wasn't happy. Happiness has to do with reason, and only reason earns it. What I was given was the thing you can't earn, and can't keep, and often don't even recognize at the time I mean joy.

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Understanding this quote AI Analysis

The author distinguishes happiness as something that comes from rational understanding or achievement, implying it is deserved and stable. In contrast, she describes joy as a fleeting, unearned feeling that is often unnoticed when it happens and cannot be held onto.

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The unproductive tillage of human cattle takes that which of right belongs to free labor, and which is necessary for the support and happiness of our own race.
Purring would seem to be, in her case, an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness overflow.