Motivational Quotes

Happiness

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

Best Quotes about Happiness

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

Happiness is not best achieved by those who seek it directly.

Russell, Bertrand

Happiness adds and multiplies, as we divide it with others.

Nielsen, A.

Happiness requires problems

Hollingworth, H. L.

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

Jonathan Haidt

Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to make them come true.

To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over, but part of the stream of life slowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown future.

Russell, Bertrand

And isn't that, at it's core, what the princess fantasy is about for all of us? "Princess" is how we tell little girls that they are special, precious. "Princess" is the wish that we could protect them from pain, that they would never know sorrow, that they will live happily ever after ensconces in lace and innocence.

Peggy Orenstein

Happiness is not a reward -- it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment -- it is a result.

Ingersoll, Robert Green

10.

A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander

11.

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.

Kingsley, Charles

12.

One feels inclined to say that the intention that man should be happy is not included in the plan of Creation.

Freud, Sigmund

13.

The thing that counts most in the pursuit of happiness is choosing the right companion.

14.

The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

15.

If you were happy every day of your life you wouldn't be a human being, you'd be a game show host.

Heatter, Gabriel

16.

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

Bierce, Ambrose

17.

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

18.

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.

19.

We cannot be contented because we are happy, and we cannot be happy because we are contented.

Landor, Walter Savage

20.

It is kind of happiness to know to what extent we may be unhappy.

21.

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

Aristotle

22.

Happiness is not in having being; it is in doing.

Watson, Lilian Eichler

23.

This is the best kind of voyeurism, hearing joy from your neighbors.

Chuck Sigars

24.

Happiness is the harvest of a quiet eye.

O'Malley, Austin

25.

The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a life time.

26.

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

Epicurus

27.

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. which give happiness. Thomas Jefferson We never enjoy perfect happiness; our most fortunate successes are mingled with sadness; some anxieties always perplex the reality of our satisfaction.

James, William

28.

Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.

Rubinstein, Arthur

29.

No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days.

Muller, Max

30.

There is no end of craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment.

Sivananda, Sri Swami

31.

Shall I give you my recipe for happiness? I find everything useful and nothing indispensable. I find everything wonderful and nothing miraculous. I reverence the body. I avoid first causes like the plague.

Douglas, Norman

32.

The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery, even when they have to take a detour.

Jeans, Sir James

33.

All sanity depends on this: that it should be a delight to feel heat strike the skin, a delight to stand upright, knowing the bones are moving easily under the flesh.

Doris Lessing

34.

Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response.

Barthel, Mildred

35.

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

36.

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

Chambers, Oswald

37.

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

38.

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

Wilde, Oscar

39.

Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.

Epictetus

40.

Most of us experience happiness when we are enjoying life and feeling free, enjoying the process and products of our creative and intellectual processes, enjoying the ecstasy of transcendent oneness with the universe.

Muriel, James

41.

Work and live to serve others, to leave the world a little better than you found it and garner for yourself as much peace of mind as you can. This is happiness.

Sarnoff, David

42.

Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

43.

Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.

Jung, Carl

44.

Happiness is a continuation of happenings which are not resisted.

Chopra, Deepak

45.

A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe, for felicity.

Jefferson, Thomas

46.

When what we are is what we want to be, that's happiness.

Forbes, Malcolm S.

47.

Happiness was not made to be boasted, but enjoyed. Therefore tho others count me miserable, I will not believe them if I know and feel myself to be happy; nor fear them.

Traherne, Thomas

48.

Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil --or else an absolute ignorance.

Greene, Graham

49.

Happiness is a journey not a destination.

Sweetland, Ben

50.

The smallest annoyances, disturb us the most.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De