“I was happy but happy is an adult word. You don’t have to ask a child about happy, you see it. They are or they are not. Adults talk about being happy because largely they are not. Talking about it is the same as trying to catch the wind. Much easier to let it blow all over you. This is where I disagree with the philosophers. They talk about passionate things but there is no passion in them. Never talk happiness with a philosopher.”
- Jeanette Winterson
I’m glad that you like Jeanette Winterson’s quote. She puts things so simply and metaphorically. Her text is extremely visual and sensual. You might already know she keeps an official website: http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/, with links to interviews and videos.
The above quote does sound ironically philosophical as well. The distinction between ‘being happy’ and ‘talking about being happy’ are really ‘hard to read’; it’s easier to feel. I suppose art does tune your softer side, much like a tuning fork may tune a piano.