Arthur Rubinstein

“Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don’t set any condition.”

“I’m a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine – and that’s all I want to have.”

“To be alive, to able to see, to walk…it’s all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle.”

“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.”

“We only begin to live life when we learn to accept it on its own terms.”

“Of course there is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life, and what it brings.”

“Even when I’m sick and depressed, I love life.”

“When I was young, I used to have successes with women because I was young. Now I have successes with women because I am old. Middle age was the hardest part.”

Arthur Rubinstein is considered the greatest pianist of the 20th century. Perhaps more important are his insights into a happy life.

Rubinstein’s insights and attitude are easier said than realized. Perhaps Rubinstein was hyperthymic, a congenital disposition as is a talent for music. In Wikipedia, hyperthymia is characterized by:

  • increased energy and productivity
  • short sleep patterns
  • vividness, activity extroversion
  • self-assurance, self-confidence
  • strong will
  • extreme talkativeness
  • tendency to repeat oneself
  • risk-taking/sensation seeking
  • breaking social norms
  • very strong libido
  • love of attention
  • low threshold for boredom
  • generosity and tendency to overspend
  • emotion sensitivity
  • cheerfulness and joviality
  • unusual warmth
  • expansiveness
  • tirelessness
  • irrepressibility, irresistible, and infectious quality

Hyperthymia is a rare state of mind, happiness forever; gratitude, optimism and looking forward, not back; enjoying ourselves; realizing our potential; and helping others do likewise by example and sharing insights.