Linus Pauling — "The most important thing in life is to be happy, and to make others happy."
The most important thing in life is to be happy, and to make others happy.
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More from Linus Pauling
"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
"I believe that peace is not just the absence of war, but the presence of justice."
"I have always believed that it is possible to achieve peace through understanding."
"Orthomolecular medicine is the preservation of good health and the treatment of disease by varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the body."
"I have had a good life, and I am grateful for it. I have done my best to make the world a better place."
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Happiness matters most — both experiencing it yourself and actively generating it in others. This isn't passive contentment but a deliberate orientation toward joy as life's central purpose. It frames human flourishing as inherently relational: your own happiness is incomplete without contributing to others'. A simple but radical claim that cuts against achievement, status, and accumulation as life's organizing principles.
Relevance to Linus Pauling
Pauling won two unshared Nobel Prizes — Chemistry in 1954 and Peace in 1962 — yet spent his later decades fighting nuclear weapons testing despite government harassment and passport revocation. His vitamin C advocacy, however controversial, stemmed from wanting to reduce human suffering. His life shows someone who defined success through contribution to others' wellbeing, not purely through scientific accolades.
The era
Pauling's most active decades spanned the Manhattan Project, Cold War nuclear escalation, and the McCarthy era. Scientists faced intense pressure to prioritize national security over humanitarian concerns. His peace activism emerged when nuclear annihilation was a genuine daily threat. In that context, asserting happiness — rather than power, deterrence, or ideological victory — as life's purpose was a pointed moral and political statement.
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