Happiness

Thoughtful quotes about happiness, defining happiness and how to achieve happiness.

Words of Wisdom

"True and lasting happiness begins with the sudden all-encompassing realization by each member of the human family, that we are truly all limbs of one body, that we cannot find our true selves until we recognize that everyone is us and we are everyone. In truth there is no separation." (Maya Sarada Devi)

"Happiness, whether consisting in pleasure or virtue, or both, is more often found with those who are highly cultivated in their mind and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods, than among those who possess external goods to a useless extent but are deficient in higher qualities." (Aristotle)

"Happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune or random chance...Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended privately by each person." (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)

"Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition." (Arthur Rubenstein)

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." (Lincoln)

"In order to be utterly happy the only thing necessary is to refrain from comparing this moment with other moments in the past, which I often did not fully enjoy because I was comparing them with other moments of the future." (Andre Gide)

"It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness." (Thomas Jefferson)

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you." (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

"We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it." (Bernard Shaw)

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