How might I experience the trip if I try to find an itinerary that emerges from our shared vision and not just what makes me the happiest?

Something flourishes by becoming something beautiful and worthy of admiration. We human beings flourish by taking our circumstances and making the most of them in fulfilling our human potential.

Rules prevent us from fooling ourselves.

aim higher.

Sometimes old-fashioned beats cutting-edge.

If I’m always asking, What’s in it for me?—What benefit will I enjoy, and is it greater than the cost?—it’s harder to notice how I interact with others and how the way I’m behaving may not be considerate of what they might need from me.

Some people divorce on purely utilitarian grounds in hopes of finding more day-to-day happiness than they get now from their current partner. Others find themselves so oppressed by marriage that flourishing seems impossible. For those people, divorce is about more than being happier—divorce is the path to flourishing.

We want to matter.

You have a child because it makes your entire life richer even if it makes your bank account poorer.