The more refined one is, the more unhappy.
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
Since the things we do determine the character of life, no blessed person can become unhappy. For he will never do those things which are hateful and petty.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
—Bill Gates (b.1955) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Author
O Lord! Unhappy is the man whom man can make unhappy.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The world will never be long without some good reason to hate the unhappy; their real faults are immediately detected, and if those are not sufficient to sink them into infamy, an additional weight of calumny will be super added.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The inner speech, your thoughts, can cause you to be rich or poor, loved or unloved, happy or unhappy, attractive or unattractive, powerful or weak.
—Ralph Charell
What has changed is that nothing has changed… . That’s what has made me more unhappy than everything else.
—Willie Nelson (b.1933) American Country Singer, Songwriter
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
Not necessity, not desire /no, the love of power is the demon of men. Let them have everything /health, food, a place to live, entertainment /they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited: for the demon waits and waits and will be satisfied.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Hardly a man, whatever his circumstances and situation, but if you get his confidence, will tell you that he is not happy. It is however certain that all men are not unhappy in the same degree, though by these accounts we might almost be tempted to think so. Is not this to be accounted for, by supposing that all men measure the happiness they possess by the happiness they desire, or think they deserve?
—George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746–1816) British Nobleman, Politician
It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then, one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
Women get more unhappy the more they try to liberate themselves.
—Brigitte Bardot (b.1934) French Film Star
The unhappy derive comfort from the misfortunes of others.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
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
A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
Sadness is a state of sin.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
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
I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous, and very unhappy.
—Brigitte Bardot (b.1934) French Film Star
It seems to me a barren thing this conservatism – an unhappy cross breed, the mule of politics that engenders nothing
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
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 is better not to be than to be unhappy.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
There’s always some aftermath, good and bad, makes-me-happy or makes-me-unhappy, for anything we choose to do.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer
No-one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
What is earthly happiness? that phantom of which we hear so much and see so little; whose promises are constantly given and constantly broken, but as constantly believed; that cheats us with the sound instead of the substance, and with the blossom instead of the fruit.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
There are seeds of self-destruction in all of us that will bear only unhappiness if allowed to grow.
—Dorothea Brande (1893–1948) American Writer, Editor
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
—M. Scott Peck (1936–2005) American Psychiatrist, Author