Quintessential Quotes: 13 Thought-Provoking Passages on Happiness

Happiness is viewed in a variety of ways.  Some see it as the sole purpose in life, while others believe it to be an elusive wish that can never be realized.  Some suppose happiness must be pursued relentlessly, and others see it simply as a byproduct of a life well lived.

Webster defines happiness as the state of being happy, an all but useless definition.  But the synonyms begin to bring better understanding:  pleasure, contentment, satisfaction, cheerfulness, delight, well-being, and enjoyment.  Oh, to be happy!

I hope the passages below inspire you and help you find more happiness in your life.

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

“Some cause happiness wherever they; others whenever they go.”  Oscar Wilde

“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.  We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go.”  Martha Washington

“When what we are is what we want to be, that’s happiness.”  Malcolm Forbes

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.  When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I wrote down ‘happy’.  They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”  John Lennon

“Remember happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think.”  Dale Carnegie

“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.”  Groucho Marx

“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”  Abraham Lincoln

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

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”  Seneca

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.  Happiness never decreases by being shared.”  Buddha

“But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?”  Albert Camus

“Happiness is the sense that nothing is missing in this moment.”  Naval Ravikant