“O for a life of Sensations rather than of Thoughts. -John Keats”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“The flip side of an experience of enjoyment is the certainty that it won't last forever, Today's moment of hygge will be tomorrow's memory. With that awareness, we give ourselves over to the moment more completely.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet. -Emily Dickinson”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Hygge is a quality of presence and an experience of togetherness. It is a feeling of being warm, safe, comforted and sheltered.
Hygge is an experience of selfhood and communion with people and places that anchors and affirms us, gives us courage and consolation.
To hygge is to invite intimacy and connection. It's a feeling of engagement and relatedness, of belonging to the moment and to each other.
Hygge is a sense of abundance and contentment.
Hygge is about being not having.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. -Ludwig Wittgenstein”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Because interiority focuses on the inside-outside aspect of hygge, it introduces the important theme of contrast. When we hygger there is a sense of distance between us and the outside world, a contrast between the feeling that we are at the still axis of a moment of pleasure and our awareness of ever-moving life around us.
Our experience of contrast is heightened by spatial, temporal and social conditions - inside versus outside, shelter versus exposure, warm versus cold, day versus night, light versus shadow, stillness versus activity, indulgence versus restraint, relaxation versus work, independence versus society, equality versus hierarchy, peace versus conflict.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. -Annie Dillard”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. -Simone Weil”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“I felt it shelter to speak to you. -Emily Dickinson”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. -William Morris”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“He who knows contentment is rich. -Lao Tzu”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“If you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger. -Kahlil Gibran”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“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.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“We do not remember days, we remember moments. -Cesare Pavese”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“...how a familiar room slowly changes colour as morning arrives.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“The grace of a curve is an invitation to remain. We cannot break away from it without hoping to return. -Gaston Bachelard”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Less is more. -Robert Browning”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“In acceptance of the limitations that life imposes on us and in knowing that we can choose our attitude in any given circumstance and make the best of our situation, we throw open the window to hygge.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Hygge offers space for both reverie and relatedness. The heat of an open fire draws us close. Its shadow gives us a place to hide and softens our gaze.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses. -Friedrich Nietzsche”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Nothing awakens a reminiscence like an odour. -Victor Hugo”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own creations. -Oscar Wilde”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations. -Oscar Wilde”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“The things of this world are vessels, entrances for stories; when we touch them or tumble into them, we fall into their labyrinthine resonances. -Lynda Sexson”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Things sing when they reach a certain degree of presence. -Thomas Moore”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Memory is an imaginal constellation of past and present that generates a new experience. Memory is not the storing of the past, but the storying of the present. -Lynda Sexson”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“In its aspect of comfort, hygge involves a sense of wellbeing which encourages relaxation and peacefulness. It excludes by definition a distracted or preoccupied state of mind: hygge is commitment par excellence to the present moment in its basics. In the words of Hartmann-Petersen, 'Hygge rushes in of itself as soon as one is carefree.' -Judith Friedman Hansen”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. -Irish proverb”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Architecture is about the understanding of the world and turning it into a more meaningful and humane place. -Juhani Pallasmaa”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life. -William Morris.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love. -Mother Teresa”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“To curl up belongs to the phenomenology of the verb to inhabit, and only those who have learned to do so can inhabit with intensity. -Gaston Bachelard”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Life begins well. It begins enclosed, protected, all warm in the bosom of the house. -Gaston Bachelard”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Hygge involves comfort, cosiness, a sense of wellbeing, and a relaxed frame of mind. -Judith Friedman Hansen”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“The way that we hygger and offer reassurance is unique to each of us according to the things to which we attach most meaning. Some of us nourish others by cooking. Some offer comfort in conversation or good-natured humour. Others are adept at creating an easy ambience through which hygge flows.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Being too preoccupied with how a gathering is taking shape, and making obvious attempts to take personal responsibility for the smooth running of an event, will diminish the flame at the heart of hygge.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Hygge is 'fragile' because the process, in a sense, is the goal. It comes through collaborative effort and can easily appear but also easily disappear. -Carsten Levisen”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“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.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“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.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Hygge is a phenomenon that reflects our way of inhabiting the world. The routines that shape our days locate us - from the places we visit to the small rituals that give us pause.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“At a time of global instability we have become distanced from each other and the environment.
We have lost the immediacy, comfort and truthfulness of the literal and actual, and need to find alternative ways to consume and connect.
Hygge describes a way of being that introduces humanity and warmth in our homes, schools, workplaces, cities and nations.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“To hygge is to create a harmonious atmosphere, a feeling of warmth, a mood of contentment.
Hygge is freely used to describe rooms, buildings, homes, parties, people and activities.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“The Danes, considered to be among the happiest people in the world, have enjoyed hygge for hundreds of years.
Denmark's high standard of living, decent healthcare, gender equality, accessible education and equitable distribution of wealth all contribute to the measurable happiness of the Danish people.
But a determined pursuit of happiness doesn't necessarily lead to wellbeing.
At the heart of Danish life, and at the core of hygge, is a deeper stability of contentment.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“There are three salient themes that run through any experience of hygge - interiority, contrast and atmosphere. They support and extend each other and shape our understanding of the concept.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“It makes sense that the everyday experience and practice of something like hygge would not be reserved only for Scandinavians, but shared with other societies that nurture the idea of interiority to the extent that they foreground it. -Jeppe Trolle Linnet.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“It must be emphasized that hygge entails commitment to the present moment and a readiness to set distractions aside.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“It must be emphasized that hygge entails commitment to the present moment and a readiness to set distractions aside. -Judith Friedman Hansen”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Experiencing a sense of presence and belonging is challenging when we're stressed or distracted. Hygge isn't the complete absence of the usual demands of a fully engaged human life, but it is facilitated by a willingness to put down our problems and abandon our cares for a while.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“Spontaneity and immediacy characterize hygge, as does a willingness to accept our differences and enjoy an atmosphere of tolerance and peace.”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
“...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”
Source: The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well