Happiness is a state of activity.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
I must accept life unconditionally. Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don’t set any condition.
—Arthur Rubinstein (1888–1982) Polish-born American Pianist
Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Happiness is often the result of being too busy to be miserable.
—Unknown
Profit is a by-product of work; happiness is its chief product.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
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
Happiness is a matter of one’s most ordinary and everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self.
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditations on the past.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled.
—Benjamin Spock (1903–98) American Pediatrician, Author
Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
Happiness is not a horse; you cannot harness it.
—Russian Proverb
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
It is not necessarily those lands which are the most fertile or most favored in climate that seem to me the happiest, but those in which a long struggle of adaptation between man and his environment has brought out the best qualities of both.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
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
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
Happiness depends more on how life strikes you than on what happens.
—Andy Rooney (b.1919) American Writer, Humorist, TV Personality
Genial manners are good, and power of accommodation to any circumstance, but the high prize of life, the crowning fortune of a man is to be born with a bias to some pursuit, which finds him in employment and happiness,—whether it be to make baskets, or broadswords, or canals, or statutes, or songs. I doubt not this was the meaning of Socrates, when he pronounced artists the only truly wise, as being actually, not apparently so.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
And may I live the remainder of my life for myself; may there be plenty of books and many years’ store of the fruits of the earth.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Happiness is an expression of the soul in considered actions.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
If frugality were established in the state, and if our expenses were laid out to meet needs rather than superfluities of life, there might be fewer wants, and even fewer pleasures, but infinitely more happiness.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Wisdom is the most important part of happiness.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Don’t mistake pleasure for happiness. They are a different breed of dogs.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
We never enjoy perfect happiness; our most fortunate successes are mingled with sadness; some anxieties always perplex the reality of our satisfaction.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people’s happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Happiness is like manna; it is to be gathered in grains, and enjoyed every day. It will not keep; it cannot be accumulated; nor have we got to go out of ourselves or into remote places to gather it, since it has rained down from Heaven, at our very doors.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger, and will make not only for our own happiness but that of the world at large.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
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