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 is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it comes and sits softly on your shoulder.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.”
Wilhelm von Humboldt (attributed) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Jordan S. Metzger, Lightning Fast Enlightenment: A Journey to the Secrets of Happiness (2000), p. 9
“The fate of no man, not even the happiest, is free from struggles and privation; for true happiness is only then attained, when by the government of the feelings we become independent of all the chances of life.”
Wilhelm von Humboldt (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The idea we form of a misfortune is ever somewhat different from the misfortune itself, when it appears in all its frightful certainty. We must trust in nothing so little, and must labour for nothing so unceasingly, as for the strengthening of our soul and for self-government, both of which are the only sure foundations of earthly happiness.”
Wilhelm von Humboldt (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man must seek his happiness and inward peace from objects which cannot be taken away from him.”
Wilhelm von Humboldt (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the joys of earth will not assuage our thirst for happiness; while a single grief suffices to shroud life in a sombre veil, and smite it with nothingness at all points.”
Sophie Swetchine (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How easy it is to be amiable in the midst of happiness and success!”
Sophie Swetchine (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Virtue, the strength and beauty of the soul, Is the best gift of heaven; a happiness That, even above the smiles and frowns of fate, Exalts great Nature’s favorites; a wealth That ne’er encumbers, nor can be transferr’d.”
John Armstrong (poet) (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness is a function of accepting what is.”
Werner Erhard (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED.”
Christopher McCandless (disputed) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: He is attributed to have commented on this Doctor Zhivago passage: "And so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an unshared h…
“When with care we have raised an imaginary treasure of happiness, we find at last that the materials of the structure are frail and perishing, and the foundation itself is laid in the sand.”
Samuel Rogers (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some men find happiness in gluttony and in drunkenness, but no delicate viands can touch their taste with the thrill of pleasure, and what generosity there is in wine steadily refuses to impart its glow to their shriveled hearts.”
Edwin Percy Whipple (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What a man does with his wealth depends upon his idea of happiness. Those who draw prizes in life are apt to spend tastelessly, if not viciously; not knowing that it requires as much talent to spend as to make.”
Edwin Percy Whipple (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The principles we live by, in business and in social life, are the most important part of happiness.”
Harry Harrison (writer) (misattributed) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This is the radio personality Harry Harrison (born 20 September 1930), quoted in Think Vol. 21, No. 1 (January 1955), and The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) edited by John Cook, Steve Deger, and Leslie Ann Gibson
“The Jews work more effectively against us than the enemy's armies. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in. It is much to be lamented that each state, long ago, has not hunted them down as pests to society and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America.”
George Washington (misattributed) first seen 1779 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: #The first part of this forgery is from Washington's letter to Edmund Pendleton in November 1779 complaining about black marketeers and others undermining the purchasing power of colonial currency
“One of the indictments of civilization is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person.”
William Feather (disputed) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This has been attributed to Feather in some 21st century publications, but the earliest source yet located is as an anonymous proverb posted in The Poultry Item, Vol. 28 (1925)
“Happiness is the shadow of man: remembrance of it follows him; hope of it precedes him.”
Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness is where we find it, but very rarely where we seek it.”
Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perfect servants would be the worst of all for certain masters, whose happiness consists in finding fault with them.”
Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The happiness of the tender heart is increased by what it can take away from the wretchedness of others.”
Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The hatred we bear our enemies injures their happiness less than our own.”
Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Grief is a flower as delicate and prompt to fade as happiness. Still, it does not wholly die. Like the magic rose, dried and unrecognizable, a warm air breathed on it will suffice to renew its bloom.”
Valérie de Gasparin (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot but take notice of the wonderful love of God to mankind, who, in order to encourage obedience to His laws, has annexed a present as well as a future reward to a good life; and has so interwoven our duty and our happiness together that, while we are discharging our obligations to the one, we are at the same time making the best provision for the other.”
William Melmoth (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I know of no other great writer in the whole nineteenth century, perhaps even in the whole of world literature, to whom I respond with less happiness and with a more profound sense that I am on trial and found wanting, unless it were Søren Kierkegaard.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a world of happiness where there is no difference between things because there is no one there to ask about the difference. But that is not the world of men. Some men have the vanity to believe that they live in two worlds, but that is only their vanity. There is but one single world for us. We are men, and must follow the world of men contentedly.”
Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An award means a lot to me. It brings happiness along with a kind of fear. It brings fear because the award is the responsibility which audiences have put on us. So a singer winning an award should always try to give best of him to the audiences.”
Shreya Ghoshal (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes!”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) said by 1616 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“O happiness! our being's end and aim! Good, pleasure, ease, content! whate'er thy name: That something still which prompts the eternal sigh, For which we bear to live, or dare to die.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Know then this truth (enough for man to know),-- "Virtue alone is happiness below.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“To each his suff'rings; all are men, Condemn'd alike to groan,-- The tender for another's pain, Th' unfeeling for his own. Yet ah! why should they know their fate, Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies? Thought would destroy their paradise. No more; where ignorance is bliss, 'T is folly to be wise.”
Thomas Gray (1716–1771) said by 1771 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Happiness depends, as Nature shows, Less on exterior things than most suppose.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of Paradise that has survived the fall!”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) said by 1826 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“All human history attests That happiness for man,--the hungry sinner!-- Since Eve ate apples, much depends on dinner.”
Lord Byron (1788–1824) said by 1824 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“And there is even a happiness That makes the heart afraid.”
Thomas Hood (1799–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Said Scopas of Thessaly, "We rich men count our felicity and happiness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“A man's happiness,--to do the things proper to man.”
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121–180) said by 180 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“money cannot buy happiness”
English proverb wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“money can't buy happiness”
English proverb wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I imagine each individual has to answer that question for him- or herself. I don't think I can pontificate about this. Humans are animals, and animals under stress tend to behave in ways that damage themselves and one another. Trying to live a life that doesn't depend for its happiness on the suffering of other people — that's a challenge we all fail to meet on a daily basis, isn't it?”
Michelle McGrane wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By many a happy accident.”
Thomas Middleton (1580–1627) first seen 1611 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No Wit, no Help, like a Woman's (1611), Act ii. Sc. 2. Compare: "A happy accident", Madame de Staël, L'Allemagne, chap. xvi. Cervantes, Don Quixote, book iv. part ii. chap. lvii.
Also quoted by: Francis Bacon
“ALANZO: Wrongs, like great whirlwinds, Shake highest battlements. Few for heaven would care, Should they be ever happy.”
Thomas Dekker (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her legs were such Diana shows When, tucked up, she a-hunting goes; With buskins shortened to descry The happy dawning of her thigh.”
Robert Herrick (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Go, happy rose, and interwove With other flowers, bind my love. Tell her, too, she must not be Longer flowing, longer free, That so oft has fetter'd me.”
Robert Herrick (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God doth not promise here to man that He Will free him quickly from his misery; But in His own time, and when He thinks fit, Then He will give a happy end to it.”
Robert Herrick (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Farmer will never be happy again; He carries his heart in his boots; For either the rain is destroying his grain Or the drought is destroying his roots.”
A. P. Herbert (1890–1971) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Farmer", Tinker, Tailor (1922).
“I drew my bride, beneath the moon, Across my threshold; happy hour! But, ah, the walk that afternoon We saw the water-flags in flower!”
Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ah, happy world, where all things live Creatures of one great law, indeed; Bound by strong roots, the splendid flower,— Swept by great seas, the drifting seed!”
Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford (1835–1921) said by 1921 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I remember reports that the American and English newspapers were very happy about the fact that so many were killed in Dresden. There are many instances of barbarity and cruelty on the part of the Allies which I could tell you.”
Julius Streicher (1885–1946) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn (15 June 1946), from The Nuremberg Interviews by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately (2004)
“I'm happy doing what I'm doing, and if you have that kind of attitude then everything else from there on is a bonus.”