Wisdom for Success
Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
Ways of Happiness: a Guided Tour of Wisdom Quotations on Happiness
The Life Context of Happiness
“There is no happiness save in understanding the whole.” Thornton Wilder
“Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” Carl Jung
“Misery is what happiness rests upon. Happiness is what misery lurks beneath.” LaoTzu
“In order to have great happiness you have to have great pain and unhappiness – otherwise how would you know when you’re happy?” Leslie Caron
“Friends have suggested that I am the least qualified person to talk about happiness, because I am often down, and sometimes profoundly depressed. But I think that’s where my qualification comes from. Because to know happiness, it helps to know unhappiness.” Alastair Campbell
“For me, the opposite of happiness isn’t sadness but boredom.” Sushant Singh Rajput
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Pleasure is Not the Same Thing as Happiness
“A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides in imaginative reflection and judgment, when the picture of one’s life, or of human life, as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted.” George Santayana
Happiness is not synonymous with pleasure. It is, instead, a deeper emotion that originates from within. Happiness results from a sense of mental and moral contentment with who we are, what we value, and how we invest our time and resources for purposes beyond ourselves. David Shi
“Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.” Muhammad Ali
“Don’t mistake pleasure for happiness. They are a different breed of dogs.” Josh Billings
“It is not pleasure that I seek, but happiness. Pleasure can be always purchased, but not happiness.” Sanji Paul Arvind
Amusement is the happiness of those that cannot think. Alexander Pope
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Happiness is an Inner Quality
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.” Marcus Aurelius
“Happiness is an inside job.” Sylvia Boorstein
“It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” Agnes Repplier
“A man who finds no satisfaction in himself, seeks for it in vain elsewhere.” François Rochefoucauld
“A man’s felicity consists not in the outward and visible blessings of fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind.” Anacharsis
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Happiness Depends on One’s Attitude
“Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.” Dale Carnegie
“Happiness is a state of mind. It’s just according to the way you look at things.” Walt Disney
“Happiness doesn’t depend on what we have, but it does depend on how we feel toward what we have. We can be happy with little and miserable with much.” William D. Hoard
“I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life, than on the nature of those events themselves.” Baron Alexander von Humboldt
“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” Hugh Downs
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Happiness is the Outcome of a Choice
“Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you.” Ralph Marston
“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” Helen Keller
“Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There’s going to be stress in life, but it’s your choice whether you let it affect you or not.“ Valerie Bertinelli
“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.” Martha Washington
“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Unknown, often attributed to Abraham Lincoln
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Happiness is a By-product
“Happiness is not a goal…it’s a by-product of a life well-lived.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” Nathaniel Hawthorne
“If you observe a really happy man, you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi Desert. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that had rolled under the radiator, striving for it as a goal in itself. He will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living life twenty-four crowded hours of each day.” W. Beram Wolfe
“By happiness is meant not simply the joy of eating and drinking – the gratification of the appetite – but good, well-being, in the highest and noblest forms. The joy that springs from obligations discharged, from duty done, from generous acts, from being true to the ideal, from a perception of the beautiful in nature, art, and conduct. The happiness that is born of and gives birth to poetry and music, that follows the gratification of the highest wants.” Robert Ingersoll
“It is one of the many paradoxes of psychology that the pursuit of happiness defeats its own purpose. We find happiness only when we do not directly seek it. An analogy will make this clear. In listening to music at a concert, we experience pleasurable feelings only so long as our attention is directed towards the music. But if in order to increase our happiness we give all our attention to our subjective feeling of happiness, it vanishes. Nature contrives to make it impossible for anyone to attain happiness by turning into himself.” J. Arthur Hadfield
“According to Aristotle and others, happiness is not something you can “feel” or experience at a particular moment. It is the quality of a whole life. The happy life is a good life.” Mortimer Adler
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Happiness is a Condition of Balance and Harmony in Your Life
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” Thomas Merton
“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.” Freya Stark
“But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?” Albert Camus
“When what we are is what we want to be, that’s happiness.” Malcolm Forbes
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Happiness is in the Small Pleasures and Satisfactions of Everyday Life
“Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life.” Benjamin Franklin
“The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” Henry Ward Beecher
“Man is meant for happiness and this happiness is in him, in the satisfaction of the daily needs of his existence.” Leo Tolstoy
“A multitude of small delights constitute happiness.” Charles Baudelaire
“The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions – the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Happiness is actually found in simple things, such as taking my nephew around the island by bicycle or seeing the stars at night. We go to coffee shops or see airplanes land at the airport.” Andrea Hirata
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Happiness is in the Experience of Loving and Being Loved
“There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.” George Sand
“The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.” Victor Hugo
“Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here.” Leo Tolstoy
“Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible – it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could.” Barbara De Angelis
“All the riches in the world do not come close to the happiness of having children and being a mother.” Jocelyn Wildenstein
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Happiness is in Giving and Serving
“Happiness… consists in giving, and in serving others.” Henry Drummond
“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Norman MacEwen
“Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself” Og Mandino
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Happiness is in Gratitude
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” Gilbert K. Chesterton
“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” Brene Brown
“It’s not possible to experience constant euphoria, but if you’re grateful, you can find happiness in everything.” Pharrell Williams
“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” Friedrich Koenig
“Happiness comes when we stop complaining about the troubles we have and say thanks to God for the troubles we don’t have.” Anonymous
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Happiness is in Self-fulfillment
“It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.” Desiderius Erasmus
“Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled.” Benjamin Spock
“True happiness involves the full use of one’s power and talents.” John W. Gardner
“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Happiness is in Loving What You Do
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you do, you’ll be successful.” Albert Schweitzer
“You might not make it to the top, but if you are doing what you love, there is much more happiness there than being rich or famous.” Tony Hawk
“Doing what you love is freedom. Loving what you do is happiness.” Lana Del Rey
“When you love what you do, you’re happy just doing it.” Liz Phair
“The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.” James Matthew Barrie
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Happiness is in Freedom from Worry and Stress
“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” Epictetus
“Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.” Ovid
“Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.” Thomas Jefferson
“By letting go of my fears and concerns, I’ve gained so much happiness and freedom. With that freedom I’ve also gained confidence.” Sabrina Claudio
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Happiness is in Self-forgetfulness
“In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be gainer; to forget oneself is to be happy.” Robert Louis Stevenson
“To me there is in happiness an element of self-forgetfulness. You lose yourself in something outside yourself when you are happy; just as when you are desperately miserable you are intensely conscious of yourself, are a solid little lump of ego weighing a ton.” J. B. Priestley
“The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it.” Daniel Dennett
“What happiness is, no person can say for another. But no one, I am convinced, can be happy who lives only for himself. The joy of living comes from immersion in something that we know to be bigger, better, more enduring and worthier than we are.” John Mason Brown
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Happiness is in Commitment to a Purpose
“It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.” Hugo Black
“Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.” William Cowper
“True happiness… is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” Helen Keller
“This is the true joy of life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.“ George Bernard Shaw
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Happiness is in Creative and Challenging Effort
“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.” Theodore Isaac Rubin
“It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“It’s part of life to have obstacles. It’s about overcoming obstacles; that’s the key to happiness.” Herbie Hancock
Happiness is in Growing as a Person
“Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing.” William Butler Yeats
“Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.” Pearl S. Buck
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” Andy Rooney
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Benjamin Franklin
“Happy is he who makes daily progress and who considers not what he did yesterday but what advance he can make today.” St. Jerome
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Happiness is in Security and Stability
“I define my life around happiness, being safe, being able to enjoy life and live this life for a long time.” George Hill
“Happiness has many roots, but none more important than security.” Edward Stettinius, Jr.
“Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.” Norman Vincent Peale
“The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” Maya Angelou
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Happiness is in Contentment
“There is no end of craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment.” Swami Sivananda
“Happiness is being content with what you have, living in freedom and liberty, having a good family life and good friends.” Divyanka Tripathi
“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” Dale Carnegie
“Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won’t have to hunt for happiness.” William E. Gladstone
“When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, ‘Oh yes – I already have everything that I really need.” Dalai Lama
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Happiness is in Enjoyment
“It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.” Charles Spurgeon
“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Robert Breault
“True happiness…arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self.” Joseph Addison
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it’s all that matters.” Audrey Hepburn
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Happiness is in Limiting One’s Desires
“I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.” John Stuart Mill
“Low expectations is the key to happiness in life.” Christopher Miller
“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less. Socrates
“There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations.” Jodi Picoult
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Happiness is Living in the Moment
“True happiness is… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“A happy man has no past, while an unhappy man has nothing else.” Richard Flanagan
“True happiness is…to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.” Seneca the Younger
“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.” Walt Whitman
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Happiness is One’s Responsibility
“Life will bring you pain all by itself. Your responsibility is to create joy.” Milton H. Erikson
“Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you’ve got to make yourself.” Alice Walker
“As soon as you stop making everyone else responsible for your happiness, the happier you’ll be.” Nina Guilbeau
“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.” Albert Ellis
“The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.” Brian Tracy
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Money, Material Comfort, and Happiness
“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” Jane Austen
“Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.” Gertrude Stein
“People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.” Joan Rivers
“Whether or not money can buy happiness, it can buy freedom, and that’s a big deal. Also, lack of money is very stressful.” Sam Altman
“I’ve been very lucky to have achieved a lot of the things that I dreamt of achieving as a young man. But, at the end of the day – and I truly believe this – it is not about achieving great wealth or success. Because they don’t bring happiness, ultimately.” Leonardo DiCaprio
“I define success as a deep sense of peace, and we find the most peace when we live out our true calling and fulfill the purpose we were created for. History is filled with examples of people who had an abundance of material possessions but no peace because no matter how much stuff you have, there’s not enough money in the world to fill the hole in your soul.” DeVon Franklin
“Not just personal unhappiness but all strife in life, including war, is the result of an over-emphasis on temporary things; money, power and material possession.” Robert S. Jepson, Jr.
“None of those material possessions do anything to make your life any better…. I know a lot of people who have a lot of everything, and they’re absolutely the most miserable people in the world. So it won’t do anything for you unless you’re a happy person and can have peace with yourself.” Lenny Kravitz
“Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.” Democritus
“The best things in life aren’t things.” Art Buchwald
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BE HAPPY!
Image at knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu
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It’s one way of being wise.