Happiness
The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our disposition and not our circumstances. ~Martha Washington


Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling. ~Margaret Lee Runback


Men are disturbed not by things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen. ~Epictetus


Happiness comes of the capacity
to feel deeply,
to enjoy simply,
to think freely,
to risk life,
to be needed. ~Storm Jameson


It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. ~Charles Haddon Spurgeon


Health is the greatest possession.
Contentment is the greatest treasure.
Confidence is the greatest friend.
Non-being is the greatest joy. ~from the Dhammapada


The reason angels fly is that they take themselves so lightly. ~G.K. Chesterton


Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. ~Frank Outlaw


There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. ~Albert Einstein


To live in this world you must do three things:
   (1) to love what is mortal,
   (2) to hold it against your bones knowing your life depends upon it,
   and when the time comes to let it go,
   (3) let it go. ~Mary Oliver


Paradise is not a place which we can get to through some formula, but it is a way of being here and now, of living without those artificial barriers which destroy our essential wholeness. To live in this way we must be greater than contradiction, and be able to contain the contradiction within the totality of who we are. ~Michael Greenwood


Anticipation of coming trouble brings to pass the very calamities we fear most, for by brooding over a thing we generate the conditions for its ultimation. ~W.J. Colville


Life must be lived as play. ~Plato


Do what you can with what you've got, where you are. ~Theodore Roosevelt


Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne


This is the true joy in life
Being used for a purpose
recognized by yourself
as a mighty one;
that being a force of nature
instead of a feverish little cloud
of ailments and grievances,
complaining that the world
will not devote itself
to making you happy.

I am of the opinion
that my life belongs to the whole community
and as long as I live,
it is my privilege to do for it
whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die —
for the harder I work, the more I love.
I rejoice in life for its own sake.
Life is no brief candle to me.
It is a sort of splendid torch
which I have got to hold up for the moment
and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible
before handing it on to future generations. ~George Bernard Shaw


Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate. ~Chuang Tzu


We find greatest joy, not in getting, but in expressing what we are. Men do not really live for honors or for pay; their gladness is not the taking and holding, but in doing, the striving, the building, the living. It is a higher joy to teach than to be taught. It is good to get justice, but better to do it; fun to have things but more to make them. The happy man is he who lives the life of love, not for the honors it may bring, but for the life itself. ~R. J. Baughan


Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. ~Buddha


I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~Gilbert Keith Chesterton


It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. ~Agnes Repplier


Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit. ~Napolean Hill


The best things in life aren't things. ~Art Buchwald


The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. ~Albert Einstein


Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. ~Victor Borge


The Four-Fold Way

Show up in all ways.
Pay attention to what has heart and meaning.
Tell the truth without judgment or blame.
Be open to outcomes but not attached to outcomes. ~Angeles Arrien


The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. ~Buddha


Being, not doing, is my first joy. ~Theodore Roethke


It is not an easy or convenient life for which I search ... but a life lived to the edge of my possibility. ~M.A. Radmacher-Hershey


To enjoy the world without judgment is what a realized life is like. ~Charlotte Joko Beck


Dance like no one's watching,
love like you'll never be hurt,
sing like no one's listening,
live like it's heaven on earth. ~William Pukey


Simple pleasures are the last refuge of the complex. ~Oscar Wilde


We should tackle reality in a slightly joking way ... otherwise we miss its point. ~Lawrence Durrell


To live in an evolutionary spirit means to engage with full ambition and without any reserve in the structure of the present, and yet to let go and flow into a new structure when the right time has come. ~Erich Jantsch


Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures. ~H. Jackson Brown Jr


To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
   and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
   and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better,
   whether by a healthy child, a garden,
   or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier
   because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Happiness is a how, not a what; a talent, not an object. ~Hermann Hesse


The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. ~Epictetus


Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. ~Shunryu Suzuki


It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis. ~Margaret Bonnano


I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. ~Albert Schweitzer


You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man. A contented mind confers it on all. ~Horace


This very moment is a seed from which the flowers of tomorrow's happiness grow. ~Margaret Lindsey


Happiness belongs to those who are sufficient unto themselves. For all external sources of happiness and pleasure are, by their very nature, highly uncertain, precarious, ephemeral and subject to chance. ~Arthur Schopenhauer


Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory. ~Betty Smith


Everything can be taken from us but one thing — the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given circumstance. ~Viktor Frankl


People who postpone happiness are like children who try chasing rainbows in an effort to find the pot of gold at the rainbow's end. Your life will never be fulfilled until you are happy here and now. ~Ken Keyes, Jr


If you want to die happily, learn to live;
if you would live happily, learn to die. ~Don Marquis


Happiness belongs to those who are sufficient unto themselves. For all external sources of happiness and pleasure are, by their very nature, highly uncertain, precarious, ephemeral and subject to chance. ~Arthur Schopenhauer


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 grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for. ~Joseph Addison


Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. ~Aristole


If you want to die happily, learn to live;
if you would live happily, learn to die. ~Celio Calcagnini


Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. ~Storm Jameson


To make a man happy, fill his hands with work, his heart with affection, his mind with purpose, his memory with useful knowledge, his future with hope, and his stomach with food. ~Frederick E. Crane


Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are. ~John. B. Sheerin


Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. ~Chuang-Tse


One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. ~Albert Schweitzer


A smile is the shortest distance between people. ~Victor Borge