Famous quotes

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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“It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. The king seems to understand this truth; as for myself, I know that in my whole life (even if I live for a hundred years) I shall never forget the day of the coronation.”
Marie Antoinette (1755–1793) first seen 1766 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: After learning of the bread shortages that were occurring in Paris at the time of Louis XVI's coronation in Rheims, as quoted in Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2001) by Antonia Fraser, p. 135 . Tradition persists that M…
“We had a beautiful dream and that was all. The interest of my son is the only guide I have, and whatever happiness I could achieve by being free of this place I cannot consent to separate my self from him. I could not have any pleasure in the world if I abandoned my children.I do not even have any regrets.”
Marie Antoinette (1755–1793) said by 1793 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Marie Antoinette to the Chevalier Jarjayes on his persuading her to escape alone from the Tower; Lettres, II. p. 433; also quoted in Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2001) by Antonia Fraser, ISBN 0307277747.
“It's been said that happiness writes white. It doesn't show up on the page. When you're on holiday and writing a letter home to a friend, no one wants a letter that says the food is good and the weather is charming and the accommodations comfortable. You want to hear about lost passports and rat-filled shacks.”
Martin Amis (1949–2023) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Sadistic Muse" - an interview with Laura Miller at salon.com (10 February 1998)
“I think it was Montherlant who said that happiness writes white: it doesn't show up on the page.”
Martin Amis (1949–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A wise woman never yields by appointment. It should always be an unforeseen happiness.”
Stendhal (1783–1842) said by 1842 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Tis not in strength of body nor in gold that men find happiness, but in uprightness and in fulness of understanding.”
Democritus (461–361 BC) said by 361 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he Greatness and Security, both of Kings, Royal Families, and of all such as are in Authority, as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People, depend in a most especial manner, upon the exact observation and maintenance of these their Laws, Liberties, and Customs.”
William III of England (1650–1702) first seen 1688 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Declaration of His Highness William Henry, By the Grace of God, Prince of Orange, &c. Of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England, for preserving the Protestant Religion, and for restorin…
“Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.”
James K. Polk (1795–1849) first seen 1845 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Inaugural Address (4 March 1845).
“Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of earth.”
William McKinley (1843–1901) first seen 1901 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech delivered at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York (September 5, 1901).
“The Outsider is always unhappy, but he is an agent that ensures the happiness for millions of 'Insiders'.”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It seemed perfectly possible that, in spite of my certainty of my own genius, I might die of some illness, or perhaps even in a street accident, before I had ever glimpsed the meaning of life. My moods of happiness and self-confidence convinced me that I had a "destiny" to become a famous writer, and to be remembered as one of the most important thinkers of the century.”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness comes in small doses folks. It's a cigarette, or a chocolate chip cookie or a five second orgasm, that's it okay? You cum, you eat the cookie, you smoke the butt, you go to sleep you get up in the morning and go to fucking work okay? That is it, end of fucking list!”
Denis Leary (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he merits of the great settlement associated with the names of Wellington and Castlereagh gave Britain security which she used for a hundred years of progress in liberty and high civilisation; while the defects of the same settlement, for which also they were in part though in smaller degree responsible, set a date to that happiness in the end.”
G. M. Trevelyan (1876–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I learned from a very young age that if I pursued the things that truly excited me, that they would reward in more important ways, like happiness”
Brandon Boyd (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I used to be will pass away, and then you'll seeThat all I want now is happiness for you and me.”
Elliott Smith (1969–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“May it be my privilege to have the happiness of establishing the commonwealth on a firm and secure basis and thus enjoy the reward which I desire, but only if I may be called the author of the best possible government; and bear with me the hope when I die that the foundations which I have laid for its future government, will stand firm and stable.”
Augustus (63 BC–14) said by 14 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To children is there any happiness which is not also noise?”
Frederick William Faber (1814–1863) said by 1863 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...They would probably only get a little while, if that, but even a drop of happiness could color a whole well of misery.”
Starhawk (born 1951) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: City of Refuge (2015)
“That virtue was sufficient of herself for happiness.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“One ought to seek out virtue for its own sake, without being influenced by fear or hope, or by any external influence. Moreover, that in that does happiness consist.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“They also say that God is an animal immortal, rational, perfect, and intellectual in his happiness, unsusceptible of any kind of evil, having a foreknowledge of the universe and of all that is in the universe; however, that he has not the figure of a man; and that he is the creator of the universe, and as it were the Father of all things in common, and that a portion of him pervades everything.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more.”
Diogenes Laërtius first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 122, in Moral Exhortation (1986), p. 33
“Be, as you have been, my happiness; Let me sleep beside you, each night, like a spoon.”
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...habits are happiness of a sort...”
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All men are my children. What I desire for my own children, and I desire their welfare and happiness both in this world and the next, that I desire for all men. You do not understand to what extent I desire this, and if some of you do understand, you do not understand the full extent of my desire.”
Ashoka (304–232 BC) said by 232 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The key to self-generated happiness (the only reliable kind) is the refusal to take oneself too seriously.”
Tom Robbins (1932–2025) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Green Man : Tom Robbins" interviewed by Gregory Daurer, in High Times (12 June 2002).
“The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness means that each of us is free to go our own way, even if the ways some of us may choose to go seem sinful or shocking to our fellow citizens.”
Dan Savage (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sound of laughter is like the vaulted dome of a temple of happiness.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Would I have been happier? Maybe. But then, happiness was overrated.”
Greg Egan (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The heritage we give our children, and the myths we leave to sustain them, must work with the tug and press of life, or they will fail. Adaptability has to be enshrined alongside stability, or the ghost of Darwin will surely come back to haunt us, whispering in our ears the penalty of conceit. We wish our descendants happiness. But over time one criterion alone will judge our efforts. Survival.”
David Brin (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Silence accompanies the most significant expressions of happiness and unhappiness: those in love understand one another best when silent, while the most heated and impassioned speech at a graveside touches only outsiders, but seems cold and inconsequential to the widow and children of the deceased.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Enemies (1887)
“The desire to serve the common good must without fail be a requisite of the soul, a necessity for personal happiness; if it issues not from there, but from theoretical or other considerations, it is not at all the same thing.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness does not await us all. One needn’t be a prophet to say that there will be more grief and pain than serenity and money. That is why we must hang on to one another.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to K.S. Barantsevich (March 3, 1888)
“The Natural History Museum is open to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays. Elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus; extraordinary animals! Rubens rendered them marvellously. I had a feeling of happiness as soon as I entered the place and the further I went the stronger it grew. I felt my whole being rise above commonplaces and trivialities and the petty worries of my daily life.”
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) first seen 1847 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 19 January 1847 (p. 55)
“I am now pretty far advanced in life, and all my views are centered in the Happiness and well-fare of my children; you will, therefore, find from me every Indulgence which you have a right to expect from an affectionate Parent.”
George Mason (1725–1792) first seen 1783 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his son, George Mason V. (8 January 1783)
“Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.”
George Mason (1725–1792) first seen 1783 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William Cabell (6 May 1783)
“That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
George Mason (1725–1792) said by 1792 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every selfish motive therefore, every family attachment, ought to recommend such a system of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights and happiness of the lowest than of the highest orders of Citizens.”
George Mason (1725–1792) said by 1792 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At the age of five I had become a skeptic and began to sense that any happiness that came my way might be the prelude to some grim cosmic joke.”
Russell Baker (1925–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And there is ev'n a happiness That makes the heart afraid!”
Thomas Hood (1799–1845) first seen 1827 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ode to Melancholy, st. 6 (1827).
“As with the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of truth is itself gratifying whereas the consummation often turns out to be elusive.”
Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage.”
Thucydides (461–395 BC) said by 395 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The name of happiness is but a wider term for the unalloy'd conditions of the Pleasur of Life, attendant on all function, and not to be deny'd to th' soul, unless forsooth in our thought of nature spiritual is by definition unnatural.”
Robert Bridges (1844–1930) said by 1930 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the life of each of us, I said to myself, there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness.”
Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No single thing is so important to every man as to have for neighbors intelligent, companionable persons. There is nothing, therefore, which the nation can do for him that will enhance so much his own happiness as to educate his neighbors.”
Edward Bellamy (1850–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truly, it is these secondary consequences, these moral and social reactions of economic equality to create a noble atmosphere of human intercourse, that, after all, have been the greatest contribution which the principle has made to human happiness.”
Edward Bellamy (1850–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I calmly consider this, the flame of anxiety burns my body. Towards the public, I am deeply ashamed of my lack of discretion... I would like to apologize to successive emperors and people by doing my best for the reconstruction of the nation and people's happiness.”
Hirohito (1901–1989) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Draft of undelivered speech (1948); published in the magazine Bungeishunju as quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald (11 June 2003).
“To strive for the common prosperity and happiness of all nations as well as the security and well-being of Our subjects is the solemn obligation which has been handed down by Our Imperial Ancestors and which lies close to Our heart.”
Hirohito (1901–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Part of me wants to say with Wordsworth: 'Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive.' But if you ask me was it worth it, I don't think it was. If you pin me against a wall and ask: 'Schama, do you think more human happiness than unhappiness emerged?' I have to say no.”
Simon Schama (born 1945) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks on the French Revolution in an interview with Bryan Appleyard, quoted in Bryan Appleyard, 'The revolutionary historian', The Times (13 May 1989), p. 31
“Is it not the interest of the human race, that every one should be so taught and placed, that he would find his highest enjoyment to arise from the continued practice of doing all in his power to promote the well-being, and happiness, of every man, woman, and child, without regard to their class, sect, party, country or colour?”
Robert Owen (1771–1858) first seen 1841 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Paper Dedicated to the Governments of Great Britain, Austria, Russia, France, Prussia and the United States of America (1841) 17th of "20 Questions to the Human Race