I could totally relate to this someday. To conquer the world and then fade out to your own private and peaceful happiness away from it all with only your family sounds close to heaven.
to your own private - what is the meaning in this sentence?
The adjectives private and peaceful both modify the noun happiness.
The way to understand the whole phrase is like this:
…to fade out to your own private and peaceful happiness away from it all…
…to fade out to your own happiness, which is simultaneously private and peaceful, away from it all…
answered Oct 29 '19 at 23:41
-
I kind of find this wording strange - "private happiness" - in OP's quote. Also, may be the sentence could use a pair of commas around "away from it all with only your family" * to set it off as a parenthetical. If this is in fact essential information (i.e., with your family) then *"away from it all" is serving no purpose - "fade out" already does that. Would you agree? – AIQ Oct 30 '19 at 1:03
-
1@AIQ You could say that a private happiness is a kind of figure of speech: regarding happiness as a place rather a state of mind. So, it suggests that this happiness is like a secluded backyard or country estate. I understand away from it all as adding meaningful emphasis, explicitly bringing up "it all" (the bustling, competitive social world, like "the cares of the curia") as something to get away from, even though this is implied by with only your family. – Ben Kovitz Oct 30 '19 at 1:24
-
@AIQ Now that I think about it a little more, a private happiness is a different figure of speech: it refers to the person's happy living situation as if it were the feeling of happiness experienced while in that situation. – Ben Kovitz Oct 30 '19 at 1:36
