“People who are in a fortunate position always attribute virtue to what makes them so happy.”

“Why should there be some sort of virtue always attributed to a frank admission of vice?”

“I prefer to make up my own quotes and attribute them to very smart people, so that I can use them to win arguments”

“People exaggerate both happiness and unhappiness; we are never so fortunate nor so unfortunate as people say we are.”

“People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.”

“I've found what makes children happy doesn't always prepare them to be courageous, engaged adults.”

“Gods always behave like the people who make them.”

“And that," put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue — liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny.”

“It makes no difference where you go, there you are. And it makes no difference what you have, there’s always more to want. Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy because of what you have.”

“Well, I think there are people who are getting work that they wouldn't otherwise have. For many of them apparently, it fits in with their lifestyles, so that they can make their own schedules. I think you've got a company that is expanding and delivers, what? A hundred million parcels a year. So somebody's happy with the service, and somebody's happy doing the job.”