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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“The lesson Buddha and Marcus Aurelius had taught centuries earlier: "Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it".”
Jonathan Haidt (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Happiness Index of a culture can be judged by its festivals”
Siddharth Katragadda (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness lies in family, pursuing your passions, and having enough money to enjoy both.”
Siddharth Katragadda (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The true happiness of a country is reflected in the eyes of its children.”
Siddharth Katragadda (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[O]ur constitutions of government have declared that all men are born free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are the right of enjoying their lives, liberties, and property, and of seeking and obtaining their own safety and happiness. May not the miserable African ask, "Am I not a man and a brother?”
Joseph Story (1779–1845) first seen 1819 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In 1819, as quoted in Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction (2012), by Allen C. Guelzo, Chapter One
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in 50 Ways to Stand Up for America : Put the Spirit of July 4th Into Everyday Life (2002) by W. B. Freeman
“A fine thing: suddenly to forget about one’s history, one’s past, to stop feeling that one’s present happiness is endangered by what one used to be.”
Peter Handke (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness is inseparably connected with decent, clean behavior.”
Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Washed Clean Boyd K. Packer, General Conference, April 1997
“There is something intrinsically upside down and counter-intuitive in the relationship between money and happiness.”
David Orrell (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness happens by chance, and is not a law or the logical consequences of actions.”
Elfriede Jelinek (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What enormous potential for intermittent happiness the world offered.”
James K. Morrow (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The love of people goes far beyond liberty, rights, equality, and justice. It is something positive, seeks the fullest possible self-realization; it contemplates happiness, overflows all differences, and creates the kind of wealth that can be produced only by people who enjoy their common participation in a community.”
Elmer Eric Schattschneider (1892–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Experienced well-being is on average unaffected by marriage, not because marriage makes no difference to happiness, but because it changes some aspects of life for the better and others for the worse.”
Daniel Kahneman (1934–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have a two-tier class system when it comes to personality style. To devalue introversion is a waste of talent, energy and happiness.”
Susan Cain (born 1968) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bielski, Zosia (interviewer), "Giving introverts permission to be themselves," The Globe and Mail January 26, 2012.
“Being able to exist in a place where light and dark meet is actually not a recipe for unhappiness. It is a recipe for a deeper kind of happiness.”
Susan Cain (born 1968) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bastian, Jonathan (host). "Bittersweet: Susan Cain on the joy of sweet sorrow". KCRW.com (Los Angeles). May 21, 2022.
“To sense the peace of extinguished passion, happiness in not knowing the ultimate knowledge.”
Dejan Stojanovic (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm a bit of a wandering gypsy on the pitch. A midfielder constantly on the lookout for an unspoilt corner where I can move freely just for a moment...A space where I can continue to profess my creed: take the ball, give it to a team-mate, team-mate scores. It's called an assist, and it's my way of spreading happiness.”
Andrea Pirlo (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our home in Louisville, Kentucky, where I was born on December 20, was one of great happiness.”
Irene Dunne (1898–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For happiness, she also required work to do in this world and bread on the table.”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They were going to work their own country for all it was worth, to bring human labour into touch with God's natural endowments, so that the land would blossom like the rose and have houses and firesides where there would be happiness and glorious aspirations.”
Ramsay MacDonald (1866–1937) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to a Labour Party luncheon in the Hotel Belgravia, Victoria (1 November 1923), quoted in The Times (2 November 1923), p. 9
“There is no fulfillment in things whatsoever. And I think one of the reasons that depression reigns supreme amongst the rich and famous is some of them thought that maybe those things would bring them happiness. But what, in fact, does is having a cause, having a passion. And that's really what gives life's true meaning.”
Ben Carson (born 1951) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Famed Surgeon Ben Carson on Overcoming Adversity", National Public Radio (May 6, 2005)
“Happiness doesn't result from what we get, but from what we give.”
Ben Carson (born 1951) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweet (29 October 2013)
“Pleasers … make up what Earl Shorris has called “the oppressed middle,” the middle-managers who enjoy “the comforts of fearful people” and pay by submitting to their superiors’ definitions of happiness and success.”
Sam Keen (1931–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gentlest and most insidious way we are dominated by the body politic is by the official versions of the good life that are implicit in advertising and propaganda. Happiness is a new car, a color TV—fill in the gap with your own “freely chosen” artificially stimulated desire.”
Sam Keen (1931–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even if victory were possible, it still couldn’t provide meaning or genuine happiness, because saying “I want to be the best” is simply the polite way of saying “I want everyone else to be worse.”
Malcolm Azania (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there’s one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers. This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness — don’t waste the opportunity!”
Andrew Mason (born 1980) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Groupon CEO: “I Was Fired Today.” (February 28, 2013)
“May the Lord array thee in the garment of salvation and surround thee with the cloak of happiness.”
Pope Alexander VI (1431–1503) first seen 1499 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Inscribed words upon the mantle of gonfalonier given to his son Cesare Borgia (March 29, 1499), as quoted in The Life of Cesare Borgia (1912) by Rafael Sabatini, Chapter IV: Gonfalonier of the Church.
“The happiness of most people we know is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things.”
Ernest Dimnet (1866–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not plan to come back. I have no reason to come back.. I plan to do my best to help the Chinese people build up the nation to where they can live with dignity and happiness.”
Qian Xuesen (1911–2009) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Qian (1955) to reporters after returning to China. Cited in: "Qian Xuesen dies at 98; rocket scientist helped establish Jet Propulsion Laboratory" Obituary Nov 1, 2009
“This path is so delightful and delectable that anyone who knows it will lovingly travel it at his own cost and expense. Such happiness is beyond words.”
John of St. Samson (1572–1636) said by 1636 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My idea is to bring happiness, respect, vision. poetry, surrealism and magic [to design]. We have to replace beauty, which is a cultural concept, with goodness, which is a humanist concept'.”
Philippe Starck (born 1949) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Starck as cited in: David Barlex (2007) Design & technology. p. 33
“Do not consider either the security of your personal lives or the transitory happiness of your wives, husbands, children, parents and relatives; for the security of all of your children and their children is in jeopardy.”
Mohamed Nasheed (born 1967) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: After his arrest, and getting dragged into court, quoted on The guardian, "Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed jailed for 13 years", March 14, 2015.
“It is owing to this kindness of our numerous friends, in all quarters, that my new and unwished-for situation is not indeed a burden to me. When I was much younger, I should probably have enjoyed the innocent gayeties of life, as much as most of my age. But I had long since placed all the prospects of my future worldly happiness in the still enjoyments of the fireside at Mount Vernon.”
Martha Washington (1731–1802) said by 1802 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What hopeless wretches we are. Our country is pitiful and so are the people. Why is it that the only time we find a little happiness is when the world is involved in a bloody war? Surely it's only the devil who has pity on us in this world.”
Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Youth offers the promise of happiness, but life offers the realities of grief.”
Nicholas Sparks (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In her new, more mature incarnation, she embraced the idea that maturity meant thinking about risk long before you pondered the reward, and that success and happiness in life were as much about avoiding mistakes as making your mark in the world.”
Nicholas Sparks (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...I finally understood what true love really meant. ...that love meant that you care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.”
Nicholas Sparks (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My marriage brought great happiness into my life, but lately there's been nothing but sadness. I understand that love and tragedy go hand in hand, for there can't be one without the other, but nonetheless I find myself wondering whether the tradeoff is fair. A man should die as he had lived, I think; in his final moments, he should be surrounded and comforted by those he's always loved.”
Nicholas Sparks (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is the glory and happiness of our excellent constitution, that to prevent any injustice no man is to be concluded by the first judgment; but that if he apprehends himself to be aggrieved, he has another Court to which he can resort for relief; for this purpose the law furnishes him with appeals, with writs of error and false judgment.”
John Pratt (1657–1725) first seen 1720 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: King v. Chancellor, &c, of the University of Cambridge (1720), 1 Str. Rep. 564.
“Buddha’s advice helps beings by showing how one may consciously become a source of happiness and love.”
Lama Ole Nydahl (1941–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With love, one is also constantly planting the seeds for the success or failure of a partnership, and knowing this, we are especially responsible for the happiness or suffering of those who have opened up to us. The increased intimacy in love relationships leads to an exceptionally fast ripening of both beings’ good and bad impressions in mind.”
Lama Ole Nydahl (1941–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Generous love, the glue that holds everything together in a healthy relationship, aims for shared happiness through the fulfillment of one’s partner.”
Lama Ole Nydahl (1941–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Enlightenment is not only timeless but also more beautiful, truer, and more indestructible than anything separable or conditioned. There is no greater happiness than the full development of mind!”
Lama Ole Nydahl (1941–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even in a pointless universe, pointless happiness and pleasures are surely preferable to pointless suffering.”
Steve Stewart-Williams (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[P]olicies that artificially engineer gender parity – financial incentives and quotas, for instance – could potentially lower aggregate happiness. To the extent that these policies work, they necessarily mean that some people will be funnelled into occupations that are less in line with their tastes and talents.”
Steve Stewart-Williams (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why should we put a statistical, collective goal – i.e., more equal sex ratios in STEM – above the happiness and autonomy of the flesh-and-blood individuals who constitute those collectives? Why should policy makers’ preference for gender parity take precedence over individual men and women’s preferences regarding their own careers and lives?”
Steve Stewart-Williams (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even in the healthiest of relationships, a spouse’s or lover’s happiness isn’t necessarily our own. It’s rarely the case, for example, that upon hearing about a partner’s infidelity, people say “Oh, that’s nice! I love my partner, and I’m sure they had fun – so this is great news!”
Steve Stewart-Williams (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If money is all that a man makes, then he will be poor — poor in happiness, poor in all that makes life worth living.”
Herbert N. Casson (1869–1951) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Herbert N. Casson cited in: Forbes magazine (1950) The Forbes scrapbook of Thoughts on the business of life. p. 302
“These little compositions are the expression of my happiness and that is why perhaps I am particularly fond of them.”
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Her paintings from January to May 1938 done at Saraya including Elephants Bathing.
“Be like that grass on the foot of the hill, Or like that jasmine plant behind the house, Be like hard rock when the fate rains difficulties upon you; Be like jaggery & sugar bringing happiness to the poor & needy, Be one among all mingling and mixing –Mankuthimma”
D. V. Gundappa (1887–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source