Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Happiness
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“happiness, [he] knew, is something that appears to you suddenly, that is meant for you, a thing which you reach for and pick up and hide at your breast, a shiny thing that reminds you of something alive and leaping. ("The Key")”
Eudora Welty (1909–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think magic is very related to happiness. So it is not there all the time, but there are beautiful moments of magic in everyone's life.”
Penélope Cruz (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good luck to all of our guests, hope you can find some happiness in your future endeavours..., ...until next time, take care of yourself and each other.”
Jerry Springer (1944–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I consider it extremely doubtful whether the happiness of the human race has been enhanced by the technical and industrial developments that followed in the wake of rapidly progressing natural science.”
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not know what makes a writer, but it probably isn't happiness.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The weary ones, the sad, the suffering, All found their comfort in the holy place, And children's gladness and men's gratitude 'Took voice and mingled in the chant of praise. The funeral and the marriage, now, alas! We know not which is sadder to recall; For youth and happiness have followed age, And green grass lieth gently over all.”
Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You may take from me, Sir, the privileges and emoluments of place, but you cannot, and you shall not, take from me those habitual and warm regards for the prosperity of Great Britain which constitute the honour, the happiness, the pride of my life, and which, I trust, death alone can extinguish.”
William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806) first seen 1783 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (21 February 1783), quoted in The War Speeches of William Pitt (1915), p. 7. Referring to the peace treaty with the United States. Pitt, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer, knew the gover…
“Aristotle Onassis rescued me at a moment when my life was engulfed with shadows. He brought me into a world where one could find both happiness and love. We lived through many beautiful experiences together which cannot be forgotten, and for which I will be eternally grateful.”
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement at the funeral of Aristotle Onassis, as quoted in Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis : A Life (2000) by Donald Spoto.
“[A]ll achievement should be measured in human happiness.”
Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.”
Pelé (1940–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are in France some fifty thousand young men of good birth and fairly well off who are encouraged to live a life of complete idleness. They must either cease to exist or must come to see that there can be no happiness, no health even, without regular daily labor of some sort … The need of work is in me.”
Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) said by 1893 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Contemporary Portraits (1920) by Frank Harris, p. 263
“Happiest is he who expects no happiness from others. Love delights and glorifies in giving, not receiving. So learn to love and give, and not to expect anything from others.”
Meher Baba (1894–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That Action is best, which procures the greatest Happiness for the greatest Numbers; and that worst, which, in like manner, occasions Misery.”
Francis Hutcheson (philosopher) first seen 1725 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725) Treatise II, Section 3
“A good man deliberating which of several actions proposed he shall choose, regards and compares the material goodness of them, and then is determined by his moral sense invariably preferring that which appears most conducive to the happiness and virtue of mankind.”
Francis Hutcheson (philosopher) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) said by 1864 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sexuality and eroticism are the intricate intersection of nature and culture. Feminists grossly oversimplify the problem of sex when they reduce it a matter of social convention: readjust society, eliminate sexual inequality, purify sex roles, and happiness and harmony will reign. Here feminism, like all liberal movements of the past two hundred years, is heir to Rousseau.”
Camille Paglia (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.”
Oscar Levant (1906–1972) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Time (August 28, 1972).
“Happiness lies only in a divine unrest; and if you are lapped in comfort you stagnate and miss it.”
John Buchan (1875–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is, I know, for I have experienced it perhaps twice in my life, an awful privilege to be too much loved and perhaps the kindest thing I ever did in my life was never to let Matthew know to what degree he had destroyed my peace and my happiness.”
Stephen Fry (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness does away with ugliness, and even makes the beauty of beauty.”
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 3 April 1865
“In health there is liberty. Health is the first of all liberties, and happiness gives us the energy which is the basis of health.”
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 3 April 1865
“Religion is not a method, it is a life, a higher and supernatural life, mystical in its root and practical in its fruits; a communion with God, a calm and deep enthusiasm, a love which radiates, a force which acts, a happiness which overflows.”
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881) first seen 1866 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 28 April 1866
“There is great danger of not, in happiness, finding our delight in the Lord.”
James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) said by 1905 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (A.J. Broomhall. Hudson Taylor and China’s Open Century, Book Three: If I Had a Thousand Lives. London: Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1982, 131).
“Priestley was the first (unless it was Beccaria) who taught my lips to pronounce this sacred truth — that the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.”
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) first seen 1725 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Extracts from Bentham's Commonplace Book", in Collected Works, x, p. 142; He credits Priestley in his Essay on the First Principles of Government (1768) or Beccaria with inspiring his use of the phrase, often paraphrase…
“So on he went, and on the way he thought Of all the glorious things of yesterday, Nought of the price whereat they must be bought, But ever to himself did softly say "No roaming now, my wars are passed away, No long dull days devoid of happiness, When such a love my yearning heart shall bless.”
William Morris (1834–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.... The soul of the world is nourished by people's happiness.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the cycle of nature there is no such thing as victory or defeat; there is only movement. The winter struggles to reign supreme, but in the end is obliged to accept spring’s victory, which brings with it flowers and happiness.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To owe an obligation to a worthy friend is a happiness, and can be no disparagement.”
Pierre Charron (1541–1603) said by 1603 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers or of races, but the happiness of the common man.”
William Beveridge (1879–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nations seldom realise till too late how prominent a place a sound system of finance holds among the vital elements of national stability and well-being; how few political changes are worth purchasing by its sacrifice; how widely and seriously human happiness is affected by the downfall or the perturbation of national credit, or by excessive, injudicious, and unjust taxation.”
William Edward Hartpole Lecky (1838–1903) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, Volume V (1887), pp. 27-28
“Another fundamental principle taught by the Law of Moses is this: Wrong cannot be ascribed to God in any way whatever; all evils and afflictions as well as all kinds of happiness of man, whether they concern one individual or a community, are distributed according to justice; they are the result of strict judgement that admits no wrong whatever.”
Maimonides (1135–1204) said by 1204 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To act with common sense, according to the moment, is the best wisdom I know; and the best philosophy, to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one's lot, bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness with it, whatever it is, and despise affectation.”
Horace Walpole (1717–1797) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sir Horace Mann (27 May 1776)
“Perfect happiness is keeping yourself alive, and only actionless action can have this affect.”
Zhuangzi (369–288 BC) said by 288 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 18 (tr. Martin Palmer and Elizabeth Breuily, 1996)
“'He who has found a good wife has found great happiness'", quoted the padre, "'but a quarrelsome woman is like a roof that lets in the rain.'”
André Maurois (1885–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Passionate love produces distorted visions of actual people. Men who are too much in love expect such extraordinary happiness from marriage that they are frequently disappointed.”
André Maurois (1885–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no happiness without forgetfulness. I have never known a real man of action to be unhappy during action. How could he be? Like a child at play, he stops thinking of himself.”
André Maurois (1885–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who has not spent hours, days, or years with someone he loves cannot know what happiness is, for he is unable to imagine a protracted miracle like this — one which makes out of ordinary sights and events the most enchanted existence.”
André Maurois (1885–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[H]e could never have played the hero, because for him it was creativity itself that had the heroic status, beyond politics, beyond patriotism, beyond even personal happiness. It’s the reason why his work is like that. His poetry, so wonderful when it is really flying, isn’t trying to tell you how much he knows. It’s giving thanks for how much there is to be known.”
Clive James (1939–2019) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Peter Porter, 'Talking for Posterity' The Times Literary Supplement (14 May 2010)
“There are few more popular or successful institutions than the British monarchy. There are few more important practical guarantees of the happiness or security of this country or the unity of the Commonwealth than its continuance.”
Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone (1907–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Guilt, though it may attain temporal splendour, can never confer real happiness.”
Walter Scott (1771–1832) said by 1832 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Be fully aware of your own being and you will be in bliss consciously. Because you take your mind off yourself and make it dwell on what you are not, you lose your sense of well-being, of being well. (…) True happiness is spontaneous and effortless. (..)”
Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People are afraid to die, because they do not know what is death. The gnani has died before his death, he saw that there was nothing to be afraid of. The moment you know your real being, you are afraid of nothing. Death gives freedom and power. (…) The happiness of being absolutely free is beyond description. (…).”
Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many things can make you miserable for weeks; few can bring you a whole day of happiness.”
Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is something deeply attractive, at least to quite a lot of people, about squalor, misery, and vice. They are regarded as more authentic, and certainly more exciting, than cleanliness, happiness, and virtue.”
Anthony Daniels (psychiatrist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A well proportioned mind is one which shows no particular bias; one of which we may safely say that it will never cause its owner to be confined as a madman, tortured as a heretic, or crucified as a blasphemer. Also, on the other hand, that it will never cause him to be applauded as a prophet, revered as a priest, or exalted as a king. Its usual blessings are happiness and mediocrity.”
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) said by 1928 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's reason for ghastliness. Eustacia, you have held my happiness in the hollow of your hand, and like a devil you have dashed it down!”
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) said by 1928 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is happiness? It depends on two assets, which fortunately I have. They are good health and a short memory.”
Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Real and the Unreal (1961) by Bill Davidson, p. 174
“It is an inevitable law that a man, in spite of himself, should live for something higher than his own happiness. He cannot live in himself or for himself, however egotistical he may try to be. Every desire he has links him with others.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When humanity will reach its goal, regarding the success of the bodies, namely they will reach the perfect level of love for one another, then all the bodies will unite to one body and one heart, and only then all the hoped for happiness at its highest peak, will be revealed to humanity.”
Yehuda Ashlag (1880–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This understanding of marriage, which focuses almost entirely on the happiness of persons who choose to marry, is shared by many people today, but it is not the traditional one. For millennia, marriage was inextricably linked to the one thing that only an opposite-sex couple can do: procreate.”
Samuel Alito (born 1950) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dissenting, Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)