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I want to say "I was looking for happiness in things that held none" (in the
context of consumerism), so I'm saying "幸せがない物に、幸せを探してたんだ。" Is there a better,
more natural sounding way to say this?
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2017-10-12T00:12:14.747
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2017-10-12T00:21:39.707
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question
colloquial-language phrase-requests
How to make this more natural sounding?
> "I was looking for happiness in things that held none" (in the context of
> consumerism).

If you want to place the phrase after you realized that _the era ended when "I
was looking for happiness in things that held everything I wanted"_ , the
interpretation for the phrase would be simply 物の中に幸せはなかった or
**幸せはモノの中には無かった**.

Though I cannot give an exact answer to the question of the questioner, I will
introduce some phrases consepturally similar to the given phrase as follows.

(1) [**知足｛ちそく｝** ; **足{た}るを知{し}る** ;
**足｛た｝るを知｛し｝る者｛もの｝は富{と}む**](http://kotowaza-
allguide.com/ta/tarushirumonotomu.html)  
This is a well-known maxim made by Laozi 老子｛ろうし｝ who was an ancient Chinese
philosopher and writer. This means that human desires have no limit. However,
those who can be satisfied within their means without becoming greedy are rich
in spirit.

It is interpreted in English like:

  * _Content is the philosopher's stone, that turns all it touches into gold_.
  * _Content is a kingdom_.

(2)
[**武士{ぶし}は食｛く｝わねど高楊枝｛たかようじ｝**](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%AD%A6%E5%A3%AB%E3%81%AF%E9%A3%9F%E3%82%8F%E3%81%AD%E3%81%A9%E9%AB%98%E6%A5%8A%E6%9E%9D-617916)

This is a Japanese proverb.  
This means that even if a samurai is poor and can not eat, he uses a toothpick
as if he has eaten. It refers to samurai's poverty and also expresses their
attitude of the pride being contented with living in honest poverty. It also
has a nuance making fun of their pretended endurance for sake of the samurai's
pride.

It is interpreted in English like:

  * _A samurai glories in honorable poverty._
  * _A samurai pretends he has eaten well when he has no food._

(3) **清貧｛せいひん｝に幸｛しあわ｝せ見｛み｝つけたり**  
This is made by me, which means " _I found happiness lies in honorable
poverty._ "
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2017-10-12T14:29:44.027
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answer