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60 Inspirational Quotes About Happiness

Are you looking for some happiness quotes? Then read our list of quotes from different authors.

Are you looking for some interesting happiness quotes? Then you will like this list that we have prepared based on a lot of different authors. These inspirational quotes help you think about the meaning of "happiness," and they also help you find the right words if your goal is to share your feelings with other people. 

 

60 happiness quotes

We will now list 60 famous quotes from literature and philosophy, among other sources. We want to draw attention to the fact that  the conception of happiness does not seem to be very different for most of its authors, despite the differences between the cultures and times they belonged to.

1. Who is happy? This is a person, who has a healthy body, is dowered with peace of mind and cultivates his talents (Thales of Miletus)

We will only achieve complete wellbeing if we look after our body and our mind.

 

2. Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness (Ayn Rand)

A quote from this Russian philosopher who defended the supremacy of reason and actively opposed Stalin's government.

 

3. Someday, somewhere - anywhere, unfailingly, you'll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life (Pablo Neruda)

The most famous Chilean poet in history left us this and many other samples of his gift for words.

 

4. Happiness is not doing what you want but wanting what you do (Jean-Paul Sartre)

A fascinating quote about happiness from Sartre, probably the most representative character of existentialist philosophy.

 

5. I'm not proud, but I'm happy, and I think happiness makes a man even blinder than pride (Alexandre Dumas)

This French author, also known by "The three musketeers," included this reflection in the famous adventure novel "The Count of Monte Cristo."

 

6. Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind rather than on outward circumstances (Benjamin Franklin)

The idea that wellbeing derives mainly from the way we conceptualize our experiences is widespread in today's psychology.

 

7. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world (J. R. R. Tolkien)

A happiness quote that sums up well the ideas transmitted by this great fantasy writer throughout his works, among which "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" stand out.

 

8. We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same (Anne Frank)

To this day, the teachings of this young Holocaust victim have been engraved in the minds of a lot of people.

 

9. Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get (Dale Carnegie)

American businessman  Carnegie was one of the main promoters of the self-help movement that developed during the 20th century.

 

10. Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind (Marcel Proust)

One of the many famous quotes from Proust, author of the saga "In Search of Lost Time" and undoubtedly one of the best writers in history.

 

11. You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness (Jonathan Safran Foer)

Foer is a novelist known by his novels "Everything is Illuminated" and "Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close," two great examples of his sensitivity and creativity.

 

12. Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste (Charlotte Brönte)

This quote from the author Jane Eyre points out the social character that most people give happiness. 

 

13. We don’t even ask happiness, just a little less pain (Charles Bukowski)

Many people consider Bukowski a transgressor and interesting but empty author; however, the depth of his emotional life often transcended his dirty, dry language -see the poem "Bluebird."

 

14. For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

A reflection that should be taken into account when we lose our temper unnecessarily.

 

15. A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships (Helen Keller)

Hellen Keller, who was blind and deaf because of a disease when she was a child, was a key figure in the progress of special education. 

 

16. The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance. The wise grows it under his feet (James Oppenheim)

Generally, happiness does not depend so much on what we want to achieve as on small things that make up our daily lives.

 

17. We're all golden sunflowers inside (Allen Ginsberg)

The Buddhist, Ginsberg, one of the main characters from the Beat Generation, defended the individual rights of all human beings all his life.

 

18. Nothing thicker than a knife's blade separates happiness from melancholy (Virginia Woolf)

The author of "Mrs. Dalloway" and "To the lighthouse" struggled with depression and social conventionalism; her suicide marked the end of her struggle. 

 

19. No medicine cures what happiness cannot (Gabriel García Márquez)

"Gabo," one of the most well-known Latin-American writers, left us this quote about happiness that we do not recommend to understand literally.

 

20. Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination (Immanuel Kant)

This quote from the German idealist philosopher transmits a similar message than other quotes that we have included in this list, highlighting the weight of perception in the experience of happiness.

 

We can use these happiness quotes to cheer your beloved ones up.
We can use these happiness quotes to cheer your beloved ones up.

21. Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory (Albert Schweitzer)

A thought that reminds us of the saying "ignorance is bliss".

 

22. Lost good fortunes are bigger misfortunes (Pedro Calderón de la Barca)

Calderón de la Barca was one of the most important authors of the Spanish Golden Age. His many works include "La vida es sueño" (Life is a dream), a theatrical drama.

 

23. I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy" (Sylvia Plath)

This beautiful reflection belongs to the American writer, Sylvia Plath, one of the main representative of the confessional poetry genre. 

 

24. Happiness is a how, not a what. A talent, not an object (Hermann Hesse)

The author of "Siddhartha", "Demian" and "Steppenwolf" believed, like many other people, that  the ability to be happy is a skill that can be developed.

 

25. Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy (Thich Nhat Hanh)

With this quote, the famous Buddhist monk wanted to draw attention to the two-way relationship between emotions and behavior.

 

26. To crave for happiness in this world is simply to be possessed by a spirit of revolt (Henrik Ibsen)

The Norwegian theatrical author and poet was a peculiar revolutionary who used words as a tool for challenge and that, ironically, showed himself indifferent to politics.

 

27. The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom (Arthur Schopenhauer)

A lot of experts consider that Schopenhauer followed the ideas of Kant, another German philosopher that has already been mentioned in this list. 

 

28. It is better to imagine happiness than to have it (Jacinto Benavente)

It is very common for our idealized expectations and fantasies to bring us so much happiness that we suffer disappointments when we finally get what we wanted so badly.

 

29. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony (Mahatma Gandhi)

The sense of coherence between our values and our behavior is a nuclear aspect of vital satisfaction.

 

30. The word "happy" would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness (Carl Gustav Jung)

One of the main ideas of the psychoanalyst, Jung, was that the personal development consists on putting together facts and feelings that we spontaneously perceive as opposites. 

 

31. Those who wish to sing always find a song (Swedish proverb)

This traditional Scandinavian quote has reminded us of an extract from The Beatles song "Hey Jude": "Take a sad song and make it better".

 

32. I am a kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy (J. D. Salinger)

There should be more people experimenting the feeling the author of "The Catcher in the Rye" describes.

 

33. When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies (J. M. Barrie)

A curious and imaginative hypothesis from the author of "Peter Pan" that we wanted to share with you.

 

34. Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action (William James)

The psychologist, William James, though that physical sensations cause emotions and not the other way round.

 

35. Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened (Dr. Seuss)

A very recurrent quote on the Internet that challenges us to observe the past, and our life in general, from the optimism.

 

36. Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy (Guillaume Apollinaire)

The French surrealist wanted to transmit the idea that happiness is not a goal but the process that leads us to it.

 

37. I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve (Jane Austen)

An original and accurate play on words by the author of two great classics of English literature: "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility".

 

38. Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? (Hunter S. Thompson)

Without a doubt, Thompson knew what he was talking about when he said "braved the storm of life"; in the book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", where he explains his experiences with drugs, is a good example of it.

 

39. It is a happiness to wonder; it is a happiness to dream (Edgar Allan Poe)

Poe is known by his horror stories, but there is a vital and romantic side to his work that should not be ignored.

 

40. My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations (Michael J. Fox)

A very pragmatic quote about happiness from the actor who played Marty McFly in "Back to the Future", who suffers from Parkinson's disease since the early 90's, which causes severe trembling and interferes significantly with his life.

 

Happiness quotes are very useful in our daily life.
Happiness quotes are very useful in our daily life.

41. Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness (Bertrand Russell)

The philosopher Bertrand Russell considered that happiness must be conquered with effort, acceptance, and reflection, both in relation to ourselves and the environment that surrounds us.

 

42. Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go (Oscar Wilde)

In the same way that it is true that many people improve the mood of others, it is also true that there are attitudes that threaten the happiness of others.

 

43. Money may not buy happiness, but I'd rather cry in a Jaguar than on a bus (Françoise Sagan)

This argument from the French writer is difficult to refute.

 

44. Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants (Epictetus)

Furthermore, as José Mujica, former president of Uruguay, said, "Poor is not the one who has little, but the one who needs a lot and wants more and more.

 

45. It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness (Chuck Palahniuk)

Palahniuk, author of popular books such as "Fight Club" and "Choke," is another writer that combines a wild side with another one a lot more sensitive

 

46. Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know (Ernest Hemingway)

As we see, the writer was one of those people that believe that the most intelligent people tend to be the unhappiest.

 

47. Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence (Aristotle)

This philosopher from Ancient Greece defended a vision of life that, fortunately, is still popular nowadays. 

 

48. Perhaps it's because I appreciate all I have so much that I don't worry about what I haven't got (Lev Tolstoy)

A quote about the need to accept the vital circumstances  attributed to the author of "War and Peace" and "Ana Karénina".

 

49. There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved (George Sand)

“George Sand” was the nickname of Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin, a French writer who lived in the 29th century.

 

50. The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts (Marco Aurelio)

The Roman emperor, Marco Aurelio, was also one of the main representatives of the stoic philosophy, according to which happiness is achieved through self-control. 

 

51. Laughter is poison to fear (George R. R. Martin)

The writer of "Game of Thrones" knows something about poison, so we should believe him.

 

52. Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination (Mark Twain)

A quote a lot of people will agree with, although we don't.

 

53. Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities (Aldous Huxley)

The author of the science-fiction novel "A brave new world" considered, as many psychologists today, that happiness must be found in the very act of living.

 

54. Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy (Heraclitus)

Many theorists defend that happiness is a combination of momentary estates, while envy would have a dispositional character.

 

55. Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember (Oscar Levant)

A happiness quote that people should think about, because we tend to overvalue the past in comparison to the present.

 

56. A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy? (Albert Einstein)

The renowned scientist left us this famous quote that highlights the weight of small pleasures in the pursuit of happiness.

 

57. We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one (Voltaire)

We have been told a million times what is happiness and that it should be the goal of our life; so, this is the way it should be... right?

 

58. True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future (Seneca the Younger)

Like Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Cordovan philosopher Seneca is one of the greatest exponents of stoicism.

 

59. It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

A lovely quote about  the importance of sharing happiness written by the author of "The Great Gatsby."

 

60. You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life (Albert Camus)

We want to end the article with this quote from the great French writer Albert Camus -a very accurate reflection that urges us to feel more than to reason.