The Greeks said grandly in their tragic phrase, 'Let no one be called happy till his death;' to which I would add, 'Let no one, till his death, be called unhappy. '
If you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.
Remember, if you have not known sadness together with happiness you have not known anything yet. Then your happiness is superficial; your sadness is also superficial. Then you have been living on the surface; then you have known only the waves; you have not known the depth of the ocean that you are.
He felt the loyalty we feel to unhappiness - the sense that is where we really belong.
I began by asking myself, “What do I want out of life?” And the answer was happiness. Investigating further, I went into the moment when I was feeling happiest. I discovered something which to me was startling at the time. It was when I was loving that I was happiest. That happiness equated to my capacity to love rather than to being loved. That was a starting point.
I have learned from experience that happiness is an acquired skill. Children are one of the greatest lessons in happiness, constantly challenging us to enjoy the moment, as the next one will not be the same. Gratitude is essential to happiness. Every time our children rush up to us and smile, we have something to be happy about; every time we get out of bed and can take a deep breath and go out for a walk, we have something to be happy about-that is the essence of a happy existence. Happiness is a muscle we must use, or it will wither away.
The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors.
If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.
You are on the eve of a complete victory. You can't go wrong. The world is behind you.
Make others happy, and you will be happy yourself.
Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!
As a child I was told by my parents that I was happy, but I did not believe them.
Of all the 'attitudes' we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.
When humor goes, there goes civilization.
A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of goodwill; and their entrance into a room is as though another candle had been lighted.
Find happiness by enjoying the journey, not by awaiting the destination.
Joy and happiness are the indicators of balance in a human machine. . . An inner joyousness, amounting to ecstasy, is the normal condition of the genius mind. Any lack of that joyousness develops body-destroying toxins. That inner ecstasy of the mind is the secret fountain of perpetual youth and strength in any man. He who finds it finds omnipotence and omniscience.
Ambition is a passion, at once strong and insidious, and is very apt to cheat a man out of his happiness and his true respectability of character
That which gives us true freedom and true happiness is the compassionate love of Christ.
Happiness comes to those who are moving toward something they want very much to happen. And it almost always involves making someone else happy.