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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“Both hurting and happiness make me feel more alive, but as I get older it seems that hurting's the low hanging fruit. So I pick it.”
“When I get sick I start scripting the video tape that I'm gonna leave behind when I die. Sometimes imagining that even makes me cry. Both hurting and happiness make me feel more alive, but as I get older it seems that hurting's the low hanging fruit. So I pick it. .”
“Improvements in housing—in which the Government has played a large part—is another direction in which standards have tended since the War to appreciate. Comfortable housing is an essential condition to the welfare and happiness of the people.”
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Federation of British Industries (13 April 1937), quoted in Service of Our Lives (1937), p. 116.
“People will become your enemies if you become eminent too quickly in life, and you will be ineffectual. Rising slowly in the world, people will be your allies and your happiness will be assured. In the long run, whether you are fast or slow, as long as you have people's understanding there will be no danger. It is said that fortune that is urged upon you from others is the most effective.”
Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719) said by 1719 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Atheism ensures morality. Morality is a social necessity. The immorality of one disturbs the happiness of another in social relations. So checks and counter-checks maintain morality.”
Goparaju Ramachandra Rao (1902–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Suffering is transcended by total surrender And the mind attains to nirvana. As one day all must be given up, Why not dedicate it now to universal happiness?”
Shantideva (685–763) said by 763 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The will to power is the will to ecstasy is the will to surrender is the will to submit and, in extremis, to die. Or to put it another way, the rage to attain a freedom and happiness one's psyche cannot accept creates enormous anxiety and ends in self-punishing despair.”
Ellen Willis (1941–2006) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Review of Terror and Liberalism by Paul Berman, Salon (25 March 2003)
“Freedom from suffering is a great happiness.”
Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926–2022) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Old Path White Clouds : Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991) Parallax Press
“His mother taught him to sing. And when he had grown up and had listened to the world's song, he felt that there could be no greater happiness than to return to her song. In her song dwelt the most precious and most incomprehensible dreams of mankind. The heath grew into the heavens in those days. The songbirds of the air listened in wonder to this song, the most beautiful song of life.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This summer which was now passing—never had anyone lived such a summer! Nature had given him the happiness of a blossom. She gave him love and a palace, and put precious poetry into his mouth; it was all one long, unbroken romance. And now everything was lost, his poems, his love and his palace, withered, burnt; forlorn and helpless, he faced the desolation of winter.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Intention and the End of Monarchy, is the Glory of the Citizens, of the State, and of the Sovereign. But, from this Glory, a Sense of Liberty arises in a People governed by a Monarch; which may produce in these States as much Energy in transacting the most important Affairs, and may contribute as much to the Happiness of the Subjects, as even Liberty itself....”
Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only way to maintain a moderate sum of happiness in this life, is not to worry about the future or regret the past too much.”
Mel Gibson (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Quoyle with regards to Petal, his wife, "There was a month of fiery happiness. Then six kinked years of suffering...In another time, in another sex, she would have been Genghis Khan.”
Annie Proulx (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want your life filling and stirring me. I want your happiness beneath my heart and your sorrows in my eyes and your peace in the fingers of my hand.”
Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is, in lovers, a certain infatuation of egotism; they will have a witness of their happiness, cost that witness what it may.”
Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A human life is defined by its relationship with others: by its duty to its species. In the face of this duty, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are meaningless. What you call individual rights are merely the cultural fantasy of a failed civilization.”
Matthew Stover (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wish I could throw off the thoughts which poison my happiness, but I take a kind of pleasure in indulging them.”
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Being a Disney VoluntEAR reinforces my belief in Walt's vision for The Walt Disney Company to bring happiness to every family in the world.”
Newton Lee first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Disney Consumer Products News (Summer 1998)
“Bush is our fault. He's our fault because too many of us found it easier to hate him than find a way to love each other. If we work on the second thing a little harder, we won't need to rely on the cynics in the DLC to come up with the right "formula" the next time around. Because happiness and hope have a way of selling themselves.”
Matt Taibbi (born 1970) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Finding Love in Electoral Politics", AlterNet (November 13, 2004)
“2915. Suffer a Friend to reprove thee, and thank him heartily for it : 'Tis a Happiness for a Man that he can be reproved when he does amiss, and be recalled when he runs wrong. Princes are deprived of that Benefit : for they converse familiarly but with very few Persons, and those make it their only Business to humour them.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure.”
Joseph Pilates (1883–1967) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: William Miller, Return to Life Through Contrology (1960)
“It is also well known that good horses bring happiness to the heart of the riders, if they are at least reasonably skilled.”
Bem Cavalgar (1391–1438) said by 1438 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women's eyes are rapid in detecting a heart which is ill at ease with itself, and, knowing the value of sympathy, and finding their own greatest happiness not in receiving it, but in giving it, with them to be unhappy is at once to be interesting.”
James Anthony Froude (1818–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Success is terrifying. Like happiness, it is often appreciated in retrospect. It's only later that you place it in perspective. Years from now, I'll look back and say, "God, wasn't it wonderful?”
Julie Andrews (born 1935) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This Week (18 September 1966)
“I saw The Sound of Music again recently, and I loved it. Probably it's a more valuable film now than when it first came out, because some of the things it stood for have already disappeared. There's a kind of naive loveliness about it, and love goes by so fast … love and music and happiness and family, that's what it's all about. I believe in these things. It would be awful not to, wouldn't it?”
Julie Andrews (born 1935) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Photoplay (September 1973)
“Politics is the art of human happiness.”
H. A. L. Fisher (1865–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The chief aim of education is to show you, after you make a livelihood, how to enjoy living; and you can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning.”
Gilbert Highet (1906–1978) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Immortal Profession: The Joys of Teaching and Learning (1976) quoted in Audio Visual Communication Review, Volume 25; Turkish Nomad: The Intellectual Journey of Talat S Halman; The Academic Reviewer, Issue 1, by the…
“[Happiness is] The exercise of vital powers, along lines of excellence, in a life affording them scope.”
Edith Hamilton (1867–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness is a reward that comes to those that have not looked for it.”
Émile Chartier (1868–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I might have been your happiness, and became your misfortune. I am the cause of your death, for if I had been a different man, if I had not been wanting in all principles, all foundations of life, there would not have come upon you the shocks that killed you.”
Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As I've gone through life, I've found that your chances for happiness are increased if you wind up doing something that is a reflection of what you loved most when you were somewhere between nine and eleven years old.”
Walter Murch (born 1943) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film, Michael Ondaatje, 2002, .
“Seven years ago we all went through the flames. And the happiness of some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured.”
Bram Stoker (1847–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don't appreciate home until you leave it and, let me tell you, you can't appreciate life till you've almost left it! Some people hope and die with their song still in them. I used to think that happiness resulted when my earnings matched my yearnings! But not anymore!”
Patsy Cline (1932–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To her mother following the 1961 car accident
“Our work is the embodiment of our will. The spiritual manifestation of this work is its effect. When such work is properly done it brings happiness, and when carried out incorrectly it assuredly brings misery. Humanity! Your will is paramount! You can command Nature if you but obey her!”
Viktor Schauberger (1885–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Industry is not a collection of machines and tools and buildings. It is a social entity that has the responsibility of realizing the happiness of those who work in it.”
Luis A. Ferré (1904–2003) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by TIME Magazine on May 11, 1962 Time Magazine
“When our founding fathers put their signatures on the Declaration of Independence, those 56 brave people, most of whom by the way were clergymen, they said that we had certain inalienable rights given to us by our creator, and among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, life being one of them. I still believe that.”
Mike Huckabee (born 1955) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Republican Presidential Debate, 2007-10-21, quoted in {{cite news
“It looks perverted and wasteful to us, but then one thing that empires are not about is the efficient use of resources and the spread of happiness; both are typically accomplished despite the economic short-circuiting—corruption and favoritism, mostly—endemic to the system.”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yellow can paint happiness and also pain.. .Every color harbors its soul within, delighting or repelling and inspiring me.”
Emil Nolde (1867–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I was a boy, I naively thought that this thing called happiness would be something I would wake up to find every day once I could smoke, drink and fornicate.”
Jeffrey Bernard (1932–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reach for the Ground: the Downhill Struggle of Jeffrey Bernard (Duckworth: London, 2002) (p. 159)
“Ah well, towards happiness others will lead me With their tresses knotted to the horns of my brow: You know, my passion, that purple and just ripe, The pomegranates burst and murmur with bees; And our blood, aflame for her who will take it, Flows for all the eternal swarm of desire.”
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In your dark workshop, let the sun shine on other men! Even our dull life has its own pride, its own happiness!”
Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883) said by 1883 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I sought happiness, and I shall find—perhaps death. It seemsit was to be thus: it seems it was a sin ... But death covers all and reconciles all; does it not?”
Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883) said by 1883 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have had no such experience, but imaging that to be loved by a woman one loves is a great happiness.”
Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883) said by 1883 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many a woman shudders … at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians.”
Sarah Grimké (1792–1873) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Written in 1852, as quoted in ch. 87.
“We state with a unified voice that religions through which Almighty God sought to bring happiness to mankind should not be turned into instruments to cause misery,”
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (1924–2015) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Saudi king promotes tolerance at U.N. forum November 2008.
“We go on this voyage to find happiness. You see? A smile really suits you.”
Ayumi Hamasaki (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Because we want the same happiness We keep carving the same wounds onto our hearts. Forever, forever So I won't forget you I call you over and over again Please don't cry any more I won't leave you alone.”
Ayumi Hamasaki (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I spent my life learning to feel less. Every day I felt less. Is that growing old? Or is it something worse? You can not protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.”
Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Moderation is the character of genuine patriotism, of that patriotism which seeks for the happiness of mankind. There is another species which is caused by hatred of oppression. This is a passion. The other is a principle.”
Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847) first seen 1795 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry (28 January 1797), quoted in Arthur Houston, Daniel O'Connell: His Early Life, and Journal, 1795 to 1802 (1906), p. 193
“I love liberty as conducive to increase the portion of human happiness. A great deal of the misery of man can clearly be derived from the form of government under which he lives. Oppression harasses his faculties. Privilege confined by accident insults his understanding.”
Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847) first seen 1795 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry (24 March 1797), quoted in Arthur Houston, Daniel O'Connell: His Early Life, and Journal, 1795 to 1802 (1906), p. 211