Motivational Quotes

Happiness

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

- Jonathan Haidt

Best Quotes about Happiness

What would you call the highest happiness? Wratislaw was ask. The sense of competence, was the answer, given without hesitation.

Buchan, John

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

Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of happiness.

Lao-tzu

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

Aristotle

Many people have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

Keller, Helen

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.

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.

Angelis, Barbara De

Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.

Dumas, Alexandre

It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.

Bentham, Jeremy

10.

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Abraham Lincoln

11.

He felt the loyalty we feel to unhappiness -- the sense that is where we really belong.

Greene, Graham

12.

Happiness is activity.

Aristotle

13.

Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.

Chambers, Oswald

14.

A person is never happy till their vague strivings has itself marked out its proper limitations.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

15.

People who never achieve happiness are the ones who complain whenever they're awake, and whenever they're asleep, they are thinking about what to complain about tomorrow.

Zimbler, Adam

16.

Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook and a good digestion.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

17.

There is something ridiculous and even quite indecent in an individual claiming to be happy. Still more a people or a nation making such a claim. The pursuit of happiness... is without any question the most fatuous which could possibly be undertaken. This lamentable phrase the pursuit of happiness is responsible for a good part of the ills and miseries of the modern world.

Muggeridge, Malcolm

18.

Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.

Benjamin Franklin

19.

Happiness is the light on the water. The water is cold and dark and deep.

Maxwell, William

20.

Happiness comes when we test our skills towards some meaningful purpose.

Stossel, John

21.

The most exciting happiness is the happiness generated by forces beyond your control.

Nash, Ogden

22.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.

Epicurus

23.

Be open to your happiness and sadness as they arise.

Thomas, John M.

24.

If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.

Proverb, Chinese

25.

We are happy when for everything inside us there is a corresponding something outside us.

Yeats, William Butler

26.

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.

Hoffer, Eric

27.

Happiness... is not a destination: it is a manner of traveling. Happiness is not an end in itself. It is a by-product of working, playing, loving and living.

Ginott, Haim

28.

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

29.

Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm.

Richter, Jean Paul

30.

If you can't be happy where you are, it's a cinch you can't be happy where you ain't.

Jones, Charles ''Tremendous''

31.

Remember that happiness is a way of travel - not a destination.

Roy M. Goodman

32.

If you pursue happiness you never find it.

Snow, C(harles) P(ercy)

33.

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

Jonathan Haidt

34.

Whoever is happy will make others happy too.

Frank, Anne

35.

No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very miserable.

Landon, Letitia Elizabeth

36.

We find greatest joy, not in getting, but in expressing what we are. Men do not really live for honors or for pay; their gladness is not the taking and holding, but in doing, the striving, the building, the living. It is a higher joy to teach than to be taught. It is good to get justice, but better to do it; fun to have things but more to make them. The happy man is he who lives the life of love, not for the honors it may bring, but for the life itself.

Baughan, R.J.

37.

If we cannot live so as to be happy, let us so live as to deserve happiness.

Fichte, Johann G.

38.

Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.

Goodman, Roy

39.

Our happiness in this world depends on the affections we are able to inspire.

Prazlin, Duchess

40.

Happiness is a by-product. You cannot pursue it by itself.

Levenson, Samuel

41.

Happiness consists in activity -- it is a running stream, not a stagnant pool.

Mason, John L.

42.

To describe happiness is to diminish it.

Stendhal, Henri B.

43.

Joy comes from using your potential.

Schultz, Will

44.

Remember, happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you think.

Carnegie, Dale

45.

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

46.

The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.

William Cowper

47.

If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing Double Dahlias in his garden.

Wolfe, W, Beran

48.

The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

Schweitzer, Albert

49.

Not what you have, but what you see; Not what you see, but what you choose; Not what seems fair, but what is true; Not what you dream, but what you do; Not what you take, but what you give; Not as you pray, but as you live. These are the things that mar or bless The sum of human happiness.

50.

It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.

Black, Hugo