LOOKING FOR HAPPINESS CAN MAKE US MISERABLE

“Happiness is a moment of grace. But only a moment. It can’t be the usual trend of everyday life. Let us welcome the moments of happiness — but looking for happiness, desperately, can only make us miserable. I cherish two values more than happiness: joy and cheerfulness. And above all freedom”.

We loved him with his Evil Angels (Lunes de fiel; made into the film Bitter Moon by Roman Polanski). We got to know him better through his essays and philosophy books over the years. Pascal Bruckner lays equal claim to both his capacities — as a New Philosopher and an accomplished writer. In this interview (NOMAS  Transit, p. 20 ) Bruckner talks about love, violence, Europe, Islam, man and nature.