The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
If you count the sunny and the cloudy days of the whole year, you will find that the sunshine predominates.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
Happiness seems to require a modicum of external prosperity.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love, nor a friend to know me; all I ask, the heavens above, and the road below me.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depend upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
If you would be pungent, be brief, for it is with words as with sunbeams—the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
True happiness is the full use of your powers along lines of excellence in a life affording scope.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
The true felicity of life is to be free from anxieties and perturbations; to understand and do our duties to God and man, and to enjoy the present without any serious dependence on the future.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Happiness is not the end of life; character is.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
True happiness is to understand our duties toward God and man; to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence on the future; not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is abundantly sufficient.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Happiness can be built only on virtue, and must of necessity have truth for its foundation.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Life is long to the miserable, but short to the happy.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
In our course we teach that “no thought lives in your head rent-free”. Each thought you have will either be an investment or a cost. It will either move you toward happiness and success or away from it. It will either empower you or disempower you. That’s why it is imperative you choose your thoughts and beliefs wisely.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
The secret of happiness is something to do.
—John Burroughs (1837–1921) American Naturalist, Writer
Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness: which is more valuable? Success or failure: which is more destructive? If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
When men are easy in themselves, they let others remain so.
—Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–83) British Statesman
A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of goodwill; and their entrance into a room is as though another candle had been lighted.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditations on the past.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Don’t mistake pleasure for happiness. They are a different breed of dogs.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
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.
—William Bennett (b.1943) American Politician, Political Theorist, Government Official
If the principles of contentment are not within us, the height of station and worldly grandeur will as soon add a cubit to a man’s stature as to his happiness.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
He only is happy as well as great who needs neither to obey nor command in order to be something.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
He who would be happy should stay at home.
—Greek Proverb
The smallest annoyances, disturb us the most.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
If you have nothing else to do, look at yourself and see if there isn’t something close at hand that you can improve. It may make you wealthy, although it is more likely it will make you happy.
—George Madison Adams (1837–1920) American Politician, Military Leader
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
The test of enjoyment is the remembrance which it leaves behind.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
Happiness depends upon ourselves.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
I had rather have a fool make me merry, than experience make me sad.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Whatever mitigates the woes, or increases the happiness of others, is a just criterion of goodness; and whatever injures society at large, or any individual in it, is a criterion of iniquity.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
All men have happiness as their object: there are no exceptions. However different the means they employ, they aim at the same end.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Let a man choose what condition he will, and let him accumulate around him all the goods and gratifications seemingly calculated to make him happy in it; if that man is left at any time without occupation or amusement, and reflects on what he is, the meagre, languid felicity of his present lot will not bear him up. He will turn necessarily to gloomy anticipations of the future; and unless his occupation calls him out of himself, he is inevitably wretched.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
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.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
All times are beautiful for those who maintain joy within them; but there is no happy or favorable time for those with disconsolate or orphaned souls.
—Rosalia de Castro (1837–1885) Galician Romanticist Writer, Poet
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 happiness of life is made up of minute fractions—the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heart-felt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Is it not clear, however, that bliss and envy are the numerator and denominator of the fraction called happiness?
—Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884–1937) Russian Novelist, Journalist
Happiness is unrepentant pleasure.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses.
—Chinese Proverb
To be happy, you must learn to forget yourself.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
A joy that’s shared is a joy made double.
—English Proverb
Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.
—Alexandre Dumas pere (1802–1870) French Novelist, Playwright
They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods.
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer