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Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product. Paradoxically, the one sure way not to be happy is deliberately to map out a way of life in which one would please oneself completely and exclusively.

— Eleanor Roosevelt You Learn by Living (1960)

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Happiness

More quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know.

My Day (1935)

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes.

You Learn by Living (1960)

This is a time for action — not for war, but for mobilization of every bit of peace machinery.

My Day (1935)

In the long run there is no more exhilarating experience than to determine one's position, state it bravely and then act boldly.

Tomorrow Is Now (1963)

All Eleanor Roosevelt quotes →

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The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

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The key to self-generated happiness (the only reliable kind) is the refusal to take oneself too seriously.

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It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased — thus do we refute entropy.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Eleanor Roosevelt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.