The Atlantic

The True Meaning of Happiness

What’s the haps on the ultimate pursuit? Ask the Vikings.
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What does it mean to be “happy”?

Our Declaration of Independence, an absolute banger of a foundational document, famously lists “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our three inalienable rights—the only one complex enough to warrant an entire verbal clause. Unlike life and to . But the word’s etymological journey reveals some common qualities, which have helped me on my journey to absolute blissful contentment (I am never sad).

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