Motivational Quotes

Happiness

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

- Richter, Jean Paul

Best Quotes about Happiness

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

Watson, Lilian Eichler

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

C. P. Snow

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

Dumas, Alexandre

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.

Schopenhauer, Arthur

I can say that I never knew what joy was like until I gave up pursuing happiness, or cared to live until I chose to die. For these two discoveries I am beholden to Jesus.

Muggeridge, Malcolm

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

Democritus

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

Epicurus

Happiness is a sort of action.

Aristotle

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

Landor, Walter Savage

10.

No man is happy who does not think himself so.

Publilius Syrus

11.

We are never so happy nor so unhappy as we imagine.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

12.

Unhappiness is not knowing what we want, and killing ourselves to get it.

Herold, Don

13.

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

14.

Depend not on another, but lean instead on thyself...True happiness is born of self-reliance.

The laws of Manu

15.

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

Wilde, Oscar

16.

At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.

Jean Houston

17.

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

Jean Jacques Rousseau

18.

Happiness is good for the body but sorrow strengthens the spirit.

19.

The attitude of unhappiness is not only painful, it is mean and ugly. What can be more base and unworthy than the pining, puling, mumping mood, no matter by what outward ills it may have been engendered? What is more injurious to others? What less helpful as a way out of the difficulty? It but fastens and perpetuates the trouble which occasioned it, and increases the total evil of the situation. At all costs, then, we ought to reduce the sway of that mood; we ought to scout it in ourselves and others, and never show it tolerance.

James, William

20.

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier.

Young, Margaret

21.

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.

Waitley, Denis

22.

In theory there is a possibility of perfect happiness: To believe in the indestructible element within one, and not to strive towards it.

Kafka, Franz

23.

Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the color in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty and your animal spirits.

Hazlitt, William

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.

If you're ever given the choice between happiness and intelligence choose happiness

26.

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.

27.

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

Hubbard, Elbert

28.

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

Ingersoll, Robert Green

29.

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.

Dyer, Wayne

30.

The greatest joy of life is to love and be loved.

Clyde, R.D.

31.

All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife.

Boone, Daniel

32.

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

Addison, Joseph

33.

Man is the artificer of his own happiness.

Henry David Thoreau

34.

Happiness lies neither in vice nor in virtue; but in the manner we appreciate the one and the other, and the choice we make pursuant to our individual organization.

Sade, Marquis De

35.

Happiness is like a cat, If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it will never come. But if you pay not attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap.

Bennett, William John

36.

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

Sivananda, Sri Swami

37.

Happiness is not a possession to be prized. It is a quality of thought, a state of mind.

Maurier, Daphne Du

38.

Suspicion of happiness is in our blood.

Lucas, E. V.

39.

Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.

Robertson Davies

40.

While we pursue happiness, we flee from contentment.

Proverb, Hasidic

41.

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

Jeans, Sir James

42.

Happiness is perfume, you can't pour it on somebody else without getting a few drops on yourself

Zee, James Van Der

43.

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.

George Burns

44.

Act happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love, and do what you will.

Millman, Dan

45.

If you ever find happiness by hunting for it, you will find it as the old woman did her lost spectacles. Safe on her own nose all the time.

Billings, Josh

46.

Those who seek happiness miss it, and those who discuss it, lack it.

Jackson, Holbrook

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.

Where one is wise two are happy.

Proverb

49.

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a person and life they lead.

Camus, Albert

50.

Happiness requires problems

Hollingworth, H. L.