“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”Lev Tolstoi · Război și pace · 1869 · Volumul 1, Partea 1, Capitolul 1
Happiness is a system where every part must hold; one broken piece creates a unique unhappiness with its own anatomy.
The sentence is a law of human combinatorics. Happiness works like a system in which every component must hold: health, money, respect, love, trust. One broken piece produces a misery specific to that piece, which is why miseries are infinite and unique while happinesses resemble each other. Two happy families live variations on the same theme of balance; two unhappy ones suffer from wholly different and incomparable causes.
Why it matters It helps someone stop comparing their suffering to others', understanding that every unhappiness has its own anatomy and demands its own diagnosis.