Quotes about happiness

„It’s hard to perfect a happy song. Pharrell managed it. Stevie Wonder managed it. Bill Withers managed it. I haven’t managed it yet.“

—  Chris Martin musician, co-founder of Coldplay 1977

„Live, and be happy, and make others so.“

—  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Justine Moritz in Ch. 8
Frankenstein (1818)

„Smiles and tears are so alike with me, they are neither of them confined to any particular feelings: I often cry when I am happy, and smile when I am sad.“

—  Anne Brontë, book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Ch. XV : An Encounter and its Consequences; Gilbert Markham
Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)

„Truth is not always the best basis for happiness.“

—  Wilhelm Stekel Austrian physician and psychologist 1868 - 1940

p. 206
Context: Truth is not always the best basis for happiness. There are certain lies which may constitute a far better and more secure foundation of happiness. There are people who perish when their eyes are opened.

„Should you seek might, power, false honor, excess — seek that we would work for you to provide your temporal advantages — we will bring you as close to the throne as you wish, and then turn you over to the consequences of your folly, but our inner sanctuary remains closed to such. But should you want to learn wisdom — want to learn to make mankind more clever, better, free and happy — then be thrice welcomed by us.“

—  Adam Weishaupt German philosopher and founder of the Order of Illuminati 1748 - 1830

Die neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo in dem Illuminaten-Orden (1794) pp. 9-10.

„If you're happy in a dream, does that count?“

—  Arundhati Roy, book The God of Small Things

Source: The God of Small Things

„There is so much to love and to admire in this life that it is an act of ingratitude not to be happy and content in this existence.“

—  Lin Yutang, Pleasures of a Nonconformist

Source: Pleasures of a Nonconformist

„Conservatives are fond of telling us what a wonderful, happy, prosperous nation this is. The only thing that matches their love of country is the remarkable indifference they show toward the people who live in it.“

—  Michael Parenti American academic 1933

1 POLITICS AND ISSUES, Hidden Holocaust,USA, p. 2
Dirty truths (1996), first edition

„The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. And that is not happiness.“

—  F. H. Bradley British philosopher 1846 - 1924

No. 33.
Aphorisms (1930)

„The noblest art is that of making others happy“

—  P.T. Barnum American showman and businessman 1810 - 1891

„Emergency Valve Regulators," she repeated. "So you do know what your doing?
"Not really," he said yanking another wire. 'I made up that term to keep you happy. I'm just pulling all the red wires because they're the pretty ones.“

—  Derek Landy, Kingdom of the Wicked

Source: Kingdom of the Wicked

„He gains wisdom in a happy way, who gains it by another’s experience.“

—  Plautus, Mercator

Mercator, Act IV, scene 7, line 40
Mercator (The Merchant)
Original: (la) Feliciter is sapit, qui alieno periculo sapit.

„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 Canadian journalist and writer 1869 - 1951

Herbert N. Casson cited in: Forbes magazine (1950) The Forbes scrapbook of Thoughts on the business of life. p. 302
1950s and later

„I have found a boat, small with two sails, that would make me happy. Unfortunately, I need one hundred francs.... and I haven't got it! If you want, I could give you two canvases which you could sell, just to make you some many and you could give me the hundred francs... Kahnweiler [Paris' art-dealer] is the only one who gives me money, and just what we need to live on.“

—  André Derain French painter and engraver 1880 - 1954

Quote from Derain's letter, 23 August 1909 to Maurice de Vlaminck, in Lettres à Vlaminck, p. 205; as cited and translated in 'Report: André Derain's 'Trees by a Lake', by F. Whitlum-Cooper and Cleo Nisse http://courtauld.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Report-Derain-by-F-Whitlum-Cooper-and-Cleo-Nisse.compressed.pdf, p. 10 - note 8

„may you be happy, may you be well
may you be peaceful and at ease
may you be filled with loving kindness
And compassion for all beingslk“

—  Morihei Ueshiba founder of aikido 1883 - 1969

„Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.“

—  Ramana Maharshi Indian religious leader 1879 - 1950

„We don't make mistakes; we just have happy accidents. And that's when you really experience the joy of painting.“

—  Bob Ross American painter, art instructor, and television host 1942 - 1995

Bob Ross: Beauty Is Everywhere. Collection 1: Ep. 8 "Wintertime Blues"; The Joy of Painting Season 20: Episode 3 Bob Ross: Winter in Pastel.

„You know, all that really matters is that the people you love are happy and healthy. Everything else is just sprinkles on the sundae.“

—  Paul Walker American actor 1973 - 2013

Flaunt Magazine, July 2001.

„Let us all be happy and live within our means, even if we have to borrer [sic] money to do it with.“

—  Artemus Ward American writer 1834 - 1867

Science and Natural History, Letter VII http://books.google.com/books?id=DYdEAAAAcAAJ&q=%22let+us+all+be%22+%22and+live+within+our+means,+even+if+we+have+to+borrer+money+to+do+it+with%22&pg=PA165#v=onepage to Punch, part of the Artemus Ward in London series (22 October 1866).