A collection of happiness-related quotes from influential figures in history.
“If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
“The Constitution only guarantees you the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”
“Knowing something is not as good as liking it. Liking something is not as good as rejoicing in it.”
“Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
“The myriad things are complete in us. There is no greater joy than to reflect on ourselves and become sincere.”
“The ultimate happiness is doing nothing.”
“Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.”
“What does ‘happy’ mean? Happiness is not a state like Vermont.”
“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.”
“When a thoughtful human being has overcome incentives to vice and is aware of having done his bitter duty, he finds himself in a state that could be called happiness, a state of contentment and peace of mind in which virtue is its own reward.”
“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.”
“Some people cause happiness wherever they go, others whenever they go.”
“A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?
“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.”
“Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling, enduring, and accomplishing.”
“Happiness is a habit – cultivate it.”
“Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.”
“Success is not the key to happiness, happiness is the key to success.”
“To live happily is an inward power of the soul.”
“Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within YOURSELF in your way of thinking.”
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
“My happiness derives from knowing the people I love are happy.”
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.”
“As you travel on life’s ways, with its many ups and downs, remember it’s quite true to say, one smile is worth a dozen frowns. Among the world’s expensive things, a smile is very cheap. And when you give a smile away, you get one back to keep.”
“A problem shared is a problem halved. A joy shared is a joy doubled.”