Happiness Quotes
Most happiness quotes online are cheerful. The sourced ones on this page often are not. Bertrand Russell wrote in Sceptical Essays (1928) that after enjoying ourselves, our greatest pleasure is preventing others from enjoying themselves. Macaulay’s History of England (1849) has the Puritan who hated bear-baiting not because it hurt the bear but because it pleased the spectators. Tom Robbins gave the most practical advice in a 2002 interview: the key to self-generated happiness is refusing to take yourself too seriously.
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive” is credited to Marcus Aurelius and flagged as misattributed. “No man is happy who does not think himself so” is credited to Publilius Syrus and marked disputed.
What is lawful is undesirable; what is unlawful is very attractive.
No one possesses unalloyed pleasure; there is some anxiety mingled with the joy.
Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.
Do not fall prey to seeking pure happiness. Instead, seek lifelong progress toward happierness.
What is there given by the gods more desirable than a happy hour?
No eye to watch, and no tongue to wound us
All earth forgot, and all heaven around us.
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.
Those views of life which deify pleasure are less likely to yield it.
Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes;
And when in act they cease, in prospect rise.