Motivational Quotes

Happiness

We all want to be happy, and we're all going to die. You might say those are the only two unchallengeably true facts that apply to every human being on this planet.

- Boyd, William

Best Quotes about Happiness

Happiness is understanding that friendship is more precious than mere things, more precious than getting your own way, more precious than being in situations where true principles are not at stake.

Walters, J. Donald

Happiness is a wine of the rarest vintage, and seems insipid to a vulgar taste.

Smith, Logan Pearsall

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.

Democritus

You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man. A contented mind confers it on all.

Horace

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.

Epicurus

We take greater pains to persuade others we are happy than in trying to think so ourselves.

Confucius

We think a happy life consists in tranquility of mind.

Cicero, Marcus T.

The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modeled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators. Even the lonely savage, who lies exposed to the inclemency of the elements and the fury of wild beasts, forgets not, for a moment, this grand object of his being.

Hume, David

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.

Barrie, Sir James M.

10.

Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product.

Roosevelt, Eleanor

11.

If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.

Aristotle

12.

Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age.

Christopher Morley

13.

There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means -- either may do -- the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.

Franklin, Benjamin

14.

Such happiness as life is capable of comes from the full participation of all our powers in the endeavor to wrest from each changing situations of experience its own full and unique meaning.

Dewey, John

15.

If you cannot renounce the world the genius of happiness will never salute you.

Prutz

16.

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.

Robert Frost

17.

Happiness ain't a thing in itself --it's only a contrast with something that ain't pleasant. And so, as soon as the novelty is over and the force of the contrast dulled, it ain't happiness any longer, and you have to get something fresh.

Twain, Mark

18.

Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower, and draws all good things toward you. Allow your love to nourish yourself as well as others. Do not strain after the needs of life. It is sufficient to be quietly alert and aware of them. In this way life proceeds more naturally and effortlessly. Life is here to Enjoy!

Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh

19.

To be happy is not the purpose of our being rather it is to deserve happiness.

Fichte, Johann G.

20.

Happiness is the act of being tough with ourselves and tender with others.

21.

There's a hope for every woe, and a balm for every pain, but the first joys of our heart come never back again!

Gilfillan, Robert

22.

Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.

Thomas Szasz

23.

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it.

C. P. Snow

24.

What makes people happy is activity; changing evil itself into good by power, working in a God like manner.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

25.

No man should desire to be happy who is not at the same time holy. He should spend his efforts in seeking to know and do the will of God, leaving to Christ the matter of how happy he should be.

Tozer, A. W.

26.

Happiness arises in a state of peace, not of tumult.

Ann Radcliffe

27.

Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.

Ingersoll, Robert Green

28.

Happiness is an agreeable sensation, arising from contemplating the misery of others.

Bierce, Ambrose

29.

The secret to happiness is not in doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do.

30.

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.

Rohn, Jim

31.

What a man really wants is creative challenge with sufficient skills to bring him within the reach of success so that he may have the expanding joy of achievement.

Nash, Fay B.

32.

Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.

Proverb, Scottish

33.

But the whim we have of happiness is somewhat thus. By certain valuations, and averages, of our own striking, we come upon some sort of average terrestrial lot; this we fancy belongs to us by nature, and of indefeasible rights. It is simple payment of our wages, of our deserts; requires neither thanks nor complaint. Foolish soul! What act of legislature was there that thou shouldst be happy? A little while ago thou hadst no right to be at all.

Carlyle, Thomas

34.

True happiness is the full use of your powers along lines of excellence in a life affording scope.

Kennedy, John F.

35.

The mintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust, and that real life is love, laughter, and work.

Hubbard, Elbert

36.

Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.

Rubin, Theodore I.

37.

We wish to be happier than other people; and this is difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.

Montesquieu, Charles De

38.

Be it jewel or toy, not the prize gives the joy, but the striving to win the prize.

Meredith, Owen

39.

I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!

Louise Bogan

40.

The happy think a lifetime short, but to the unhappy one night can be an eternity.

Lucian

41.

The best advice on the art of being happy is about as easy to follow as advice to be well when one is sick.

Swetchine, Anne Sophie

42.

The man who is born with a talent which he was meant to use finds his greatest happiness in using it.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

43.

Sometimes it's hard to avoid the happiness of others.

David Assael

44.

True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.

Saint-Exupery, Antoine De

45.

Happiness consists of three things; Someone to love, work to do, and a clear conscience.

46.

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

47.

Happiness lies in being privileged to work hard for long hours in doing whatever you think is worth doing. One man may find happiness in supporting a wife and children. Another may find it in robbing banks. Still another may labor mightily for years in pursuing pure research with no discernible result. Note the individual and subjective nature of each case. No two are alike and there is no reason to expect them to be. Each man or woman must find for himself or herself that occupation in which hard work and long hours make him or her happy. Contrariwise, if you are looking for shorter hours and longer vacations and early retirement, you are in the wrong job. Perhaps you need to take up bank robbing. Or geeking in a sideshow. Or even politics.

Heinlein, Robert

48.

Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it.

Jonathan Haidt

49.

Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained; most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources.

Spencer, Herbert

50.

Let no one till his death be called unhappy. Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done.

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett