Famous quotes

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Happiness

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“They were happy, the two of them. I'd been a fool to come between them. I might destroy them both if I were not careful. A humble happiness. A good mother and child. God, I thought, if you listen to the prayers of people like myself, grant me happiness once, only once in my whole lifetime will be enough! Hear my prayer!”
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But the truth is, you can never really be happy, because happiness is not an ultimate thing. Happiness is when your expectations are met with reality. If your expectation is constantly fed by the capitalist economy for its own survival, that you always need more, then you can never be as satisfied as the medieval farmer was satisfied with his piece of bread.”
Chloé Zhao (born 1982) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: ‘Nomadland’ Director Chloé Zhao: Why We Need To “Train Our Minds To Want Less” & The Problem Of Elder Care In America" in Deadline (8 February 2021)
“If you think that happiness is all about driving a nice car or living in a big house, I’m afraid to say that you’ll never be happy. The mistake in the pursuit of happiness is to attach it conditionally to superficial, material objects.”
Liam Hackett (born 1991) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But walking along Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, in his black overcoat and his gray interview suit, Quentin knew he wasn’t happy. Why not? He had painstakingly assembled all the ingredients of happiness. He had performed all the necessary rituals, spoken the words, lit the candles, made the sacrifices. But happiness, like a disobedient spirit, refused to come. He couldn’t think what else to do.”
Lev Grossman (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am interested in the idea that people should be able to define their own happiness. It’s not just about fertility; we are often told that we need this or that to be happy. We need to be thin, rich or whatever. But maybe we should decide for ourselves what happiness looks like.”
Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (born 1988) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how people should pursue their own happiness in “Ayòbámi Adébáyò: ‘We should decide for ourselves what happiness looks like’” in The Guardian (2017 Feb 26)
“Yes, Happiness 101. You know why? Because, sometimes, you can be rich and not happy. If it is so important, why don’t you have a ministry for it? After all, you have a school for catering; you can also have a school for happiness to teach people about the true essence of life.”
Rochas Okorocha (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happy the heart to whom God has given enough strength and courage to suffer for Him, to find happiness in simplicity and the happiness of others.”
Johann Kaspar Lavater (attributed) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 246
“When you are happy, tell people that you are having a great time with them. I always make sure people know how grateful I am and how happy I am wherever I am. I love spreading joy.”
Linda Mtoba (born 1991) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Daisy was a consciously happy young woman without any of the usual endowments that make for conscious happiness, money apart. She was not pretty, she was not clever, she had no friends, no talents, nor even an imagination to make her think she was happy when she was really miserable. As she was never miserable, she had no need of an imagination.”
Laura Riding (1901–1991) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Daisy and Venison" from Progress of Stories (Deya, Majorca: Seizin Press; London, Constable, 1935)
“The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation, because occupation means pre-occupation; and the pre-occupied person is neither happy nor unhappy, but simply alive and active, which is pleasanter than any happiness until you are tired of it.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But, then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer, to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love, to be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy, therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness — I hope you're getting this down.”
Woody Allen (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All marriage is such a lottery -- the happiness is always an exchange -- though it may be a very happy one -- still the poor woman is bodily and morally the husband's slave. That always sticks in my throat. When I think of a merry, happy, and free young girl -- and look at the ailing aching state a young wife is generally doomed to -- which you can't deny is the penalty of marriage.”
Queen Victoria (1819–1901) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter (16 May 1860), published in Dearest Child: Letters Between Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal Previously Unpublished edited by Roger Fulfold (1964), p. 254. Also quoted in the article "Queen Victoria's Not So …
“You must try to generate happiness within yourself. If you aren't happy in one place, chances are you won't be happy anyplace.”
Ernie Banks (1931–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we are not happy, if we are not peaceful, we can't share peace and happiness with others, even those we love, those who live under the same roof. If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.”
Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I should have been happy—I was being paid to be here—but happiness does not respond to that kind of imperative; it is no good telling yourself you should be happy. (p. 225).”
Geoff Dyer (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes, there is a “secret to happiness”—and it is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but it is truer to say that it is complaining that leads to people becoming unhappy. Become grateful and you will become a much happier person.”
Dennis Prager (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You’re the secret to change your life, you’re the key to your own happiness. It's not the happy people who are thankful, it’s the thankful people who are happy.”
Gaur Gopal Das (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today only the person who no longer believes in a happy ending, only he who has consciously renounced it, is able to live. A happy century does not exist; but there are moments of happiness, and there is freedom in the moment.”
Ernst Jünger (1895–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I saw parents that said, ‘I just want my kid to be happy,’” Aaker says. “Or I saw people getting depressed when they realized they were low and thought they should be happy, and then were doubly depressed because they weren’t. That got me thinking about whether there might be a difference between short-run happiness and what’s truly meaningful.”
Jennifer Aaker (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I just wanna be everybody’s everything I want too much from people but then I don’t want anything from them at the same time u feel me I don’t let people help me but I need help but not when I have my pills but that’s temporary one day maybe I won’t die young and I’ll be happy? What is happy I always have happiness for like 10 seconds and then it’s gone. I’m getting so tired of this.”
Lil Peep (1996–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are happy if there is a hospital for you to go when you are sick. If your environment is secure enough, you are happy. Who produces the policies that guarantee that actions of government produce happiness?”
Rochas Okorocha (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We ran and we made efforts and I think we were paid at the end of the day, and we all went out to get this particular victory, we are happy, because I scored the second goal. With this goal, I think I put happiness on the faces of about 30,000 Ivorian fans who were at the stadium. No words can describe how I’m feeling right now, but I’m happy,”
Oumar Diakité (born 2003) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oumar Diakite hails Cotê d’Ivoire fans after win over Mali, retrieved on 03 February 2024
“I had a happy, idyllic, old-fashioned childhood. Go to the town where I spent that childhood, you will not find my happy hours there. Yet they remain definite constituents of a divine reality about which true statements can still be made. My happy childhood was a gift my parents and the world offered to God.”
Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000) said by 2000 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But there are times when being happy — just happy, nothing else — is simply vile." "Why?" Jill inquired. "Because," Enrique reasoned, "one cant be happy in a place where everybody is unhappy.”
Imre Kertész (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy; I mean that if you are happy you will be good.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O eyes long laid in happy sleep! O happy sleep, that lightly fled! O happy kiss, that woke thy sleep! O love, thy kiss would wake the dead!”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are two godheads: the world and my independent I. I am either happy or unhappy, that is all. It can be said: good or evil do not exist. A man who is happy must have no fear. Not even in the face of death. Only a man who lives not in time but in the present is happy.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry (8 July 1916), p. 74e
“Happy, happy, happy pair! None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave deserves the fair.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wrote somewhere once that the third-rate mind was only happy when it was thinking with the majority, the second-rate mind was only happy when it was thinking with the minority, and the first-rate mind was only happy when it was thinking.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: War with Honour, Macmillan War Pamphlets, Issue 2 (1940).
“It is not the smallest use to try to make people good, unless you try at the same time — and they feel that you are trying — to make them happy. And you rarely can make another happy, unless you are happy yourself.”
Dinah Craik (1826–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm just not happy, I'm just not happy. I'm just not happy because my life didn't turn out the way I thought it would." Hey, join the fucking club! I thought I was going to be the starting center fielder for the Boston Red Sox. Life sucks, get a fucking helmet! Alright?”
Denis Leary (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Elliott: "Do you want to hear a happy or a sad song?"Crowd: "Happy!"Elliott: "Old or new?"Crowd: "Old!"Elliott: "Happy and old, that's a strange choice.”
Elliott Smith (1969–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So, come all you young men. with your wicked, wicked ways. Sow your wild oats in your younger days. So that we may be happy when we grow old. Yes! happy and happy when we grow old. For the day's getting on and the night's getting long. Darling please gimme your arm and we'll joggle along, yes, we'll joggle and joggle and joggle along.”
Errol Flynn (1909–1959) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From his autobiography My Wicked Wicked Ways - 1959
“Yet happy we lived and happy we loved, And happy we died once more; Our forms were rolled in the clinging mold Of a Neocomian shore. The eons came and the eons fled And the sleep that wrapped us fast Was riven away in a newer day And the night of death was past.”
Langdon Smith (1858–1908) said by 1908 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anyway, you learn a healthy respect for war, and I'm not happy with what's going on today. Uh, you know, our sterling President — um, I shouldn't get into this. Everybody's gonna kill me, but I'm not happy with him. I — I — if he had ever been in a war, he wouldn't have been so happy...so eager to send other people into war.”
James Garner (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now, don't just walk away. Pretending everything's okay, and you don't care about me. And I know there's just no use, when all your lies become your truths and I don't care. Could you look me in the eye? And tell me that you're happy now? Would you tell it to my face? Or have I been erased? Are you happy now? Are you happy now?”
Michelle Branch (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Recent research in social psychology has shown that happy people are not people who have more; rather, they are people who are happy with what they already have. Happy people engage in satisficing all of the time, even if they don’t know it.”
Daniel Levitin (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don’t matter. You should be happy to just work at Starbucks. You should just be happy to become a cleaner and have a job like that. You should just be happy that you are safe. It is an additional form of re-traumatisation that happens to refugees, and there is no solution for it right now.”
Mursal Hedayat wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm happy being single. I'm happy with my dogs. I'm happy every day.Pero 'yung tungkol sa mga lalaki, parang okay na ako, (But when it comes to men, I think I'm okay), [I'm] done.”
Carmi Martin (born 1963) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: . GMA News. 31 May 2023.
“Happy, very happy. Happy. I didn’t expect it. I thought I’m done. I was surprised with everything.”
Kim Chiu (born 1990) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: EXCLUSIVE: Emotional Kim Chiu reveals she thought her career was over MJ Felipe, ABS-CBN News, 21 March 2024.
“My mother, Jean Ahabwe may not be rich but she is always very contented and happy. Her character has made me realise that I don’t need amazing cars or houses to be happy but use every little thing around me to create a happy environment .”
Anita Beryl (born 1986) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At the end of the day, we play the sport to keep the country happy, most especially in South Africa. So when they’re happy, I’m happy.”
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (born 2002) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hark how all the welkin rings, "Glory to the Kings of kings; Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!" Joyful, all ye nations, rise. Join the triumph of the skies. Universal nature say "Christ is born today!”
Charles Wesley (1707–1788) first seen 1754 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hymn for Christmas-Day"; these opening lines were revised by Wesley's co-worker George Whitefield in 1754, along with lesser alterations to subsequent lines, to produce the more familiar "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (…
“Nude" is about an relationship I was in during that period and there is a joyful beginning and creepy end … yeah life can be cruel, but god dammit how I love to write when my life is miserable.”
Jaani Peuhu (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most joyful let the Poet be; It is through him that all men see.”
William Ellery Channing (poet) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Poet of the old and new Times", reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919) p. 725
Also quoted by: William Ellery Channing
“I focus on spiritual wealth now, and I'm busier, more enthusiastic, and more joyful than I have ever been.”
John Templeton (1912–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh could I fly, I'd fly with thee! We'd make with joyful wing Our annual visit o'er the globe, Companions of the spring.”
John Logan (minister) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Cuckoo, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Also quoted by: John Logan
“If you are joyful, whatever you do you will do it to the hilt because you have nothing to hold back, nothing to fear, isn't it?”
Sadhguru (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our aim is to create an island of tranquility in our own country which, amid the joyful hum of arts and crafts, would be welcome to anyone who professes faith in Ruskin and Morris.”
Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956) first seen 1903 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Declaration in work programme of Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop, 1903)
“We can either passively continue on the road to utter domestication and destruction or turn in the direction of joyful upheaval, passionate and feral embrace of wildness and life that aims at dancing on the ruins of clocks, computers and that failure of imagination and will called work. Can we justify our lives by anything less than such a politics of rage and dreams?”
John Zerzan (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source