WHAT MAKES THE VALUE OF ANYTHING IN LIFE ? NOT ENJOYMENT, NOT POSSESSIONS

What makes the value of anything in life? Not enjoyment, not possessions. Analyse everything. You will find there is no value except in experience, to teach us something. And in many cases it is our hardships that give us better experience than enjoyment. Many times blows give us better experience than the caresses of nature.... Even famine has its place and value....

- Swami Vivekananda
The Gita III (Delivered in San Francisco, on May 29, 1900)
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita III