It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer
Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. Yes, yes, it’s the most comical thing in the world.
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) Irish Novelist, Playwright
I am convinced that, except in a few extraordinary cases, one form or another of an unhappy childhood is essential to the formation of exceptional gifts.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.
—Paul Dudley White (1886–1973) American Cardiologist
You don’t seem to realize that a poor person who is unhappy is in a better position than a rich person who is unhappy. Because the poor person has hope. He thinks money would help.
—Jean Kerr (1922–2003) Irish-American Author, Playwright
It is our job to make women unhappy with what they have.
—B. Earl Puckett (1898–1976) American Businessperson
I am a person who looks long-term, and I recognize the path we need to take. There will be moments when people are unhappy and disgruntled with some decision-making. Nonetheless, what matters most is to reach the destination. And my job as President is to see clearly where I want to go and be steadfast in my resolve to realize that vision.
—George W. Bush (b.1946) American Head of State, Businessperson
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
—Bill Gates (b.1955) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Author
The most unhappy of all men is he who believes himself to be so.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
Most successes are unhappy. That’s why they are successes – they have to reassure themselves about themselves by achieving something that the world will notice.
—Agatha Christie (1890–1976) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
If we cannot live so as to be happy, let us at least live so as to deserve it.
—Immanuel Hermann Fichte (1796–1879) German Philosopher
Man’s unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness; it is because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the Finite.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
It isn’t necessary to have relatives in Kansas City in order to be unhappy.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
As the ivy twines around the oak, so do misery and misfortune encompass the happiness of man. Felicity, pure and unalloyed, is not a plant of earthly growth; her gardens are the skies.
—Richard Burton (1925–84) Welsh Actor
No sooner is it a little calmer with me than it is almost too calm, as though I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
The poor, the unsuccessful, the unhappy, the unhealthy are the ones who use the word tomorrow the most.
—Robert Kiyosaki (b.1947) American Businessperson, Author, Motivational Speaker
No-one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
He felt the loyalty we feel to unhappiness — the sense that is where we really belong.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth is unhappy, though he is master of the world.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
We degrade life by our follies and vices, and then complain that the unhappiness which is only their accompaniment is inherent in the constitution of things.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
All things do help the unhappy man to fall.
—John Webster (1580–1634) English Dramatist, Poet
I think writing about unhappiness is probably the source of my popularity, if I have any-after all, most people are unhappy, don’t you think?
—Philip Larkin (1922–85) English Poet, Librarian, Novelist
You never saw a very busy person who was unhappy.
—Dorothy Dix (1861–1951) American Journalist, Columnist
There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them.
—Anthony de Mello (1931–87) Indian-born American Theologian
The worst sin — perhaps the only sin — passion can commit is to be joyless.
—Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) British Crime Writer
When unhappy, one doubts everything; when happy, one doubts nothing.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
It takes patience to appreciate domestic bliss; volatile spirits prefer unhappiness.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
It’s the most unhappy people who most fear change.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Let no one who loves be called unhappy. Even love unreturned has its rainbow.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
By becoming more unhappy, we sometimes learn how to be less so.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous, and very unhappy.
—Brigitte Bardot (b.1934) French Film Star
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise, for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.
—Sun Tzu (fl. c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
The more refined one is, the more unhappy.
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
Hell is of this world and there are men who are unhappy escapees from hell, escapees destined ETERNALLY to reenact their escape.
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French Actor, Drama Theorist
Oh, the good times when we were so unhappy
—Alexandre Dumas pere (1802–1870) French Novelist, Playwright
A man of action forced into a state of thought is unhappy until he can get out of it.
—John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.
—Anne Frank (1929–45) Holocaust Victim
Nuns and married women are equally unhappy, if in different ways
—Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626–89) Swedish Monarch
Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are those which people have lent me.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
I look at what I have not and think myself unhappy; others look at what I have and think me happy.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon