Happiness is a choice. But sometimes life doesn’t play fair and we find ourselves struggling. And sometimes we need just a little motivation to get back on track. Here are 125 quotes about happiness.
These quotes come from a wide variety of people, sources, and time periods. But what they have in common is their ability to uplift and motivate us to get back on that horse and keep going to be who we are truly meant to be.
125 Happiness Quotes
- “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” – Omar Khayyam
- “There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.” – George Sand
- “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
- “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle
- “If you want to be happy, be.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.” – Charles Spurgeon
- “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” – Epictetus
- “Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” – Helen Keller
- “Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” – George Orwell
- “Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” – Guillaume Apollinaire
- “A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?” – Albert Einstein
- “Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” – Mother Teresa
- “Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
- “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” – Thomas Merton
- “Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.” – Benjamin Disraeli
- “The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- “True happiness is… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
- “All who joy would win must share it. Happiness was born a Twin.” – Lord Byron
- “To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.” – Gustave Flaubert
- “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” – John Barrymore
- “Happiness is dependent on self-discipline. We are the biggest obstacles to our own happiness. It is much easier to do battle with society and with others than to fight our own nature.” – Dennis Prager
- “A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live.” – Bertrand Russell
- “The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” – Henry Ward Beecher
- “Happiness is an inside job.” – William Arthur Ward
- “Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life.” – Ayn Rand
- “Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.” – Henry Van Dyke
- “Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you’ve got to make yourself.” – Alice Walker
- “The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.” – Richard Bach
- “Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.” – Zhuangzi
- “True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
- “Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society.” – Princess Diana
- “Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won’t have to hunt for happiness.” – William E. Gladstone
- “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” – Ernest Hemingway
- “The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.” – Robert Baden-Powell
- “You know it’s love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you’re not part of their happiness.” – Julia Roberts
- “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “An effort made for the happiness of others lifts above ourselves.” – Lydia M. Child
- “Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.” – Alexandre Dumas
- “True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice.” – Ben Jonson
- “Happiness can only be found if you can free yourself of all other distractions.” – Saul Bellow
- “It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.” – Desiderius Erasmus
- “Try to make at least one person happy every day.” – Lawrence G. Lovasik
- “Kind words produce happiness.” – Frederick William Faber
- “What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.” – Leo Buscaglia
- “All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.” – Baruch Spinoza
- “A hug is like a boomerang – you get it back right away.” – Bil Keane
- “The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson
- “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” – Henri Matisse
- “Don’t ever be ashamed of loving the strange things that make your weird little heart happy.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
- “A happy life is one spent in learning, earning, and yearning.” – Lillian Gish
- “Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.” – Aeschylus
- “Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” – Anne Frank
- “Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin.” – John Lubbock
- “Happiness is making the most of what you have, and riches is making the most of what you’ve got.” – Rosamunde Pilcher
- “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!” – Dolly Parton
- “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” – Bob Ross
- “Misery might love company, but so does joy. And joy throws much better parties.” – Billy Ivey
- “Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.” – John Harrigan
- “Joy is not in things; it is in us.” – Richard Wagner
- “A Night can NEVER defeat the Sunrise.” – Sumit Sharma
- “It’s not about being happy all the time, or being sure of all your choices. It’s about knowing that life is precious, even when it’s tough.” – Topher Kearby
- “There is no path to happiness; happiness is the path.” – Buddha
- “I have chosen to be happy because it’s good for my health.” – Voltaire
- “The Paradoxical Commandments: People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.” – Kent M. Keith
- “For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” – Robert A. Heinlein
- “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” – Marthe Troly-Curtin
- “It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.” – Chuck Palahniuk
- “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” – Ernest Hemingway
- “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
- “The Seven Social Sins are: Wealth without work. Pleasure without conscience. Knowledge without character. Commerce without morality. Science without humanity. Worship without sacrifice. Politics without principle.” – Frederick Lewis Donaldson
- “Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- “There’s nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.” – Stephen Chbosky
- “Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.” – John Lennon
- “Promise Yourself To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.” – Christian D. Larson
- “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
- “Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” – Tom Bodett
- “Take responsibility of your own happiness, never put it in other people’s hands.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it’s all that matters.” – Audrey Hepburn
- “Happiness is a warm puppy.” – Charles M. Schulz
- “You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” – Jonathan Safran Foer
- “Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” – Dale Carnegie
- “Even if you cannot change all the people around you, you can change the people you choose to be around.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “No medicine cures what happiness cannot.” – Gabriel García Márquez
- “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” – George Burns
- “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
- “If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “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
- “People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.” – Kent M. Keith
- “Happiness is a direction, not a place.” – Sydney J. Harris
- “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha
- A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.” – Albert Einstein
- “Happiness is a state of activity.” – Aristotle
- “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “Happiness is the secret to all beauty; there is no beauty without happiness.” – Christian Dior
- “True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
- “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
- “For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Happiness is a direction, not a place.” – Sydney J. Harris
- “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha
- “A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.” – Albert Einstein
- “Happiness is a state of activity.” – Aristotle
- “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “Happiness is the secret to all beauty; there is no beauty without happiness.” – Christian Dior
- “True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
- “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
- “Henri Matisse: There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” – Henri Matisse
- “Elizabeth Gilbert: Don’t ever be ashamed of loving the strange things that make your weird little heart happy.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
- “Leo Tolstoy: If you want to be happy, be.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “Lillian Gish: A happy life is one spent in learning, earning, and yearning.” – Lillian Gish
- “Omar Khayyam: Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” – Omar Khayyam
- “Aeschylus: Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.” – Aeschylus
- “Anne Frank: Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” – Anne Frank
- “John Lubbock: Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin.” – John Lubbock
- “Rosamunde Pilcher: Happiness is making the most of what you have, and riches is making the most of what you’ve got.” – Rosamunde Pilcher
- “Dolly Parton: The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!” – Dolly Parton
- “Bob Ross: We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” – Bob Ross
- “Billy Ivey: Misery might love company, but so does joy. And joy throws much better parties.” – Billy Ivey
- “John Harrigan: Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.” – John Harrigan
- “Richard Wagner: Joy is not in things; it is in us.” – Richard Wagner
- “Sumit Sharma: A Night can NEVER defeat the Sunrise.” – Sumit Sharma
- “Topher Kearby: It’s not about being happy all the time, or being sure of all your choices. It’s about knowing that life is precious, even when it’s tough.” – Topher Kearby
- “Buddha: There is no path to happiness; happiness is the path.” – Buddha
- “Terri Guillemets: Happiness is a choice, a repetitive one.” – Terri Guillemets
Final Thoughts
These happy quotes remind us that joy isn’t just about big moments. It’s in our everyday life too. I’ve found that happiness often comes from how we see things, not just what happens to us.
Some of the wisest people have said that being happy is a choice. It’s not always easy, but we can train ourselves to focus on good things. This doesn’t mean ignoring problems, but it does mean not letting them take over our thoughts.
Happy people often talk about living in the present moment. They don’t spend all their time worrying about the future or regretting the past. Instead, they try to enjoy what’s happening right now.
It’s important to remember that happiness isn’t about external factors. Sure, nice things can make us feel good for a while. But real, lasting happiness comes from inside us. It’s about how we think and what we value in our own life.
These quotes show us that happiness is different for everyone. What makes me happy might not work for you. The key is to figure out what brings you joy and make time for it.
I hope these happy quotes inspire you to find more happiness in your life. Remember, it’s okay to not feel happy all the time. But with practice, we can learn to see more good in the world around us.
Jeff Campbell is a father, martial artist, budget-master, Disney-addict, musician, and recovering foodie having spent over 2 decades as a leader for Whole Foods Market. Click Here to learn more about me. Click Here to learn more about my site. Editorial Policies.
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