99 Quotes by Louisa Thomsen Brits

The word hygge has been sifted to the surface in recent years but the concept is not new. It is a practice as old as sitting around a fire or sharing food with a friend. Words emerge from culture, history, topography and place. They're formed by time and habit and are passed from one generation to the next through stories, rituals and values.

When we hygger, we frame the moment, give it our full attention, savour and hold it, in an awareness that the moment will pass. We feel how one moment becomes layered on to the next; past and present mingled together - everything falling into place, into one accord.

I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves - such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals that have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face live cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness and Beauty. -Albert Einstein

Hygge is our awareness of the scale of our existence in contrast to the immensity of life. It is our sense of intimacy and encounter with each other and with the creaturely world around us. It is the presence of nature calling us back to the present moment, calling us home.

...the salient feature of hygge is the atmosphere of warm and relaxed enjoyment of the moment which it allows. While it is nurtured by thoughtfulness and mutual involvement, hygge is informal and unrestrained. -Judith Friedman Hansen

Without a home, everything is fragmentation. -John Berger

Hygge is evoked in situations where there is nothing to accomplish but letting go to the present moment in a way that's more aligned to simple pleasure than deep reflection.

Life begins well. It begins enclosed, protected, all warm in the bosom of the house. -Gaston Bachelard

Hygge relates to social awareness, ways of communicating and ways of thinking about others. When we hygger, we acknowledge each other's traits and foibles without indulging them.