If a man is happy in America, it is considered he is doing something wrong.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
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.
—Theodore Isaac Rubin (1923–2019) American Psychiatrist, Author
Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Remember that life is neither pain nor pleasure; it is serious business, to be entered upon with courage and in a spirit of self-sacrifice.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you break bread with indifference, you bake bitter bread that feeds but half a man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
You get more joy out of giving joy to others and should put a good deal of thought into the happiness you are able to give.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Curiosity is a gift, a capacity of pleasure in knowing, which if you destroy, you make yourself cold and dull.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Every man rejoices twice when he has a partner in his joy. He who shares tears with us wipes them away. He divides them in two, and he who laughs with us makes the joy double.
—Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) American Catholic Religious Leader, Theologian
That is happiness: to be dissolved into something complete and great.
—Willa Cather (1873–1947) American Novelist, Writer
Somehow, not only for Christmas, But all the long year through, The joy that you give to others, Is the joy that comes back to you. And the more you spend in blessing, The poor and lonely and sad, The more of your heart’s possessing, Returns to you glad.
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92) American Quaker Poet, Abolitionist
Being happy is something you have to learn. I often surprise myself by saying “Wow, this is it. I guess I’m happy. I got a home I love. A career that I love. I’m even feeling more and more at peace with myself.” If there’s something else to happiness, let me know. I’m ambitious for that, too.
—Harrison Ford (b.1942) American Actor
All the things that truly matter—beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace—arise from beyond the mind.
—Eckhart Tolle (b.1948) German Spiritual Writer, Public Speaker, Spiritual Teacher
Everyday happiness means getting up in the morning, and you can’t wait to finish your breakfast. You can’t wait to do your exercises. You can’t wait to put on your clothes. You can’t wait to get out—and you can’t wait to come home, because the soup is hot.
—George Burns (1896–1996) American Comedian
Happiness is a by-product. You cannot pursue it by itself.
—Sam Levenson (1911–80) American Humorist, Writer, TV Personality, Journalist
He who enjoys good health is rich, though he knows it not.
—Italian Proverb
Joy lies in the fight.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
A house without a dog, a cat, or a little child is a house without joy or laughter.
—Scottish Proverb
Nothing I’ve ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children.
—Bill Cosby (b.1937) American Actor, Comedian, Activist, Producer, Author
Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one’s powers and talents.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Activist
Nothing equals the joy of the drinker, except the joy of the wine in being drunk.
—French Proverb
My creed is this: Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be used up when I die.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
To be happy, drop the words “if only” and substitute instead the words “next time.”
—Smiley Blanton
There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Happiness is a perfume that you cannot pour on others without spilling a little on yourself.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself to be these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Impeccability of the word can lead you to personal freedom, to huge success and abundance; it can take away all fear and transform it into joy and love.
—Miguel Angel Ruiz (b.1952) Mexican Spiritualist Author
Joy is very infectious; therefore, be always full of joy.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
Genuine love will always feel urged to communicate joy—to be a joy-giver. Mankind needs joy.
—Lawrence G. Lovasik
I am talking about the power within the self. This means power over your perceptions of the world, power over how you react to situations in your life, power to do what is necessary for your own self-growth, power to create joy and satisfaction in your life, power to act, and power to love.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Believe me! The secret to reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and power a pageant; but knowledge is ecstatic in enjoyment, perennial in fame, unlimited in space, and infinite in duration. In the performance of its sacred offices, it fears no danger, spares no expense, looks in the volcano, dives into the ocean, perforates the earth, wings its flight into the skies, explores sea and land, contemplates the distant, examines the minute, comprehends the great, ascends to the sublime—no place too remote for its grasp, no height too exalted for its reach.
—DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828) American Politician
The human spirit needs to accomplish, to achieve, to triumph to be happy.
—Ben Stein (b.1944) American Lawyer, Writer, Economist, Humorist
He, who cannot forgive a trespass of malice to his enemy, has never yet tasted the most sublime enjoyment of love.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Joy, happiness … we do not question. They are beyond question, maybe. A matter of being. But pain forces us to think, and to make connections … to discover what has been happening to cause it. And, curiously enough, pain draws us to other human beings in a significant way, whereas joy or happiness to some extent, isolates.
—May Sarton (1912–95) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Novelist
The greatest joy of a thinking man is to have searched the explored and to quietly revere the unexplored.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
There’s a great joy in my giving. It’s thrilling. It’s exhilarating. It’s important to be a part of sharing. It is my love. It is my joy.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
One can endure sorrow alone, but it takes two to be glad.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
Tranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear long the burden of great joys.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts, therefore guard accordingly, and take care, that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.—So God sits, effulgent, in heaven, not for a favored few, but for the universe of life, and there is no creature so poor or low that he may not look up with childlike confidence, and say, “My father! thou art mine.”
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Joy, has no cost.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer
One does not live on joy or die of sorrow.
—Yiddish Proverb
Count your joys instead of your woes; Count your friends instead of your foes.
—Irish Proverb
It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker