“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
Rhonda Byrne (1951) Australian writer and producer
The Secret Daily Teachings
“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
Rhonda Byrne (1951) Australian writer and producer
The Secret Daily Teachings
Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist
The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes
Source: The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …
Jane Porter (1776–1850) Scottish historical novelist, dramatist and literary figure
Source: Odd Mom Out
“Happiness is what you choose to remember.”
Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes
Source: Nineteen Minutes
“Having a great intellect is no path to being happy.”
Stephen Fry (1957) English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist
Christopher Hitchens vs. William Dembski, 18/11/2010 ( closing remarks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwgYYxfpPC0) <br class="br">2010s, 2010 <br class="br">Context: When Socrates was sentenced to death, for his philosophical investigations and his blasphemy for challenging the Gods of the city and he accepted his death. He did say "well, if we're lucky perhaps I'll be able to hold a conversation with other great thinkers and philosophers and doubters too", in other words that the discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble and what is pure and what is true can always go on. Why is that important, why would I like to do that? Because that is the only conversation worth having. And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don't know, but I do know that it is the conversation I want to have while I am still alive. Which means that for me, the offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can't give way, is an offer of something not worth having. I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don't know anything like enough yet. That I haven't understood enough, that I can't know enough, that I'm always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom. I wouldn't have it any other way. And I urge you to look at those of you that tell you (at your age) that that you are dead until you believe as they do. (What a terrible thing to be telling to children.) And that you can only live by accepting an absolute authority. Don't think of that as a gift, think of it as a poison chalice. Push it aside no matter how tempting it is. Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.
E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…
Source: The Treasure Map of Boys: Noel, Jackson, Finn, Hutch, Gideon—and me, Ruby Oliver
“Happy endings are bullshit. There are only happy pauses.”
Brian K. Vaughan (1976) American screenwriter, comic book creator
Source: Ex Machina, Vol. 10: Term Limits
“Happiness is the twinkle in your grandmother's eye as you reverse the tractor off her legs.”
Hugh Laurie (1959) British actor, comedian, writer, musician and director
“Nobody wants to live with a person who'll never be happy.”
François Lelord book Hector and the Search for Happiness
Source: Hector and the Search for Happiness
Robert A. Heinlein book The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
Richard Ames; chapter 3, p. 27
Source: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)
Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy
Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
“Happiness simply cannot be relied upon as a measure of success.”
John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor
Source: Your Road Map for Success: You Can Get There from Here
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist
Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life (1992) Bantam reissue
Source: Being Peace
Context: If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of a true smile is an awakened mind.
Leo Rosten (1908–1997) American writer
"The Myths by Which We Live", in The Rotarian, Vol. 107, No. 3 (September 1965), p. 55
Variant: The purpose of life is not to be happy at all. It is to be useful, to be honorable. It is to be compassionate. It is to matter, to have it make some difference that you lived.
“The days have taught you not to trust happiness because it hurts when it deceives.”
Mahmoud Darwich (1941–2008) Palestinian writer
Source: A River Dies of Thirst: journals
Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist
Source: Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963
“That made me happy. That was my Anchor.”
Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story
Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story
“A truly happy woman drives some men and almost every other woman absolutely crazy”
John Irving book A Prayer for Owen Meany
Source: A Prayer for Owen Meany
“A piece of happiness should never be taken as due.”
Charlaine Harris book Dead to the World
Source: Dead to the World
“You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.”
Bette Davis (1908–1989) film and television actress from the United States
Gerhard Gschwandtner, Great Thoughts to Sell By: Quotes to Motivate You to Success, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2007, ISBN 0071475990, p. 89.
Attributed
“Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief”
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
“That is the secret of happiness and virtue -- liking what you've got to do.”
Aldous Huxley book Brave New World
Source: Brave New World
“unbroken happiness is a bore: it should have ups and downs.”
Molière (1622–1673) French playwright and actor
Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American novelist, short story writer, designer
Source: Ethan Frome and Other Short Fiction
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist
Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
“Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and sang, 'Happy Birthday.”
Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author
Jamaica Kincaid (1949) Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer
Source: The Autobiography of My Mother
“How do you do that?” Mennis asked, frowning.
“What?”
“Smile so much.”
“Oh, I’m just a happy person.”
Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer
Source: The Final Empire
“It is sometimes easier to be happy if you don't know everything.”
Alexander McCall Smith book Morality for Beautiful Girls
Source: Morality for Beautiful Girls
“Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer
Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) British writer
Source: Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
“… because if you can make yourself happy in the rain then you're doing pretty alright in life.”
David Levithan (1972) American author and editor
Source: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Cheryl Strayed book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Source: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
“I've never known anyone more ill equipped for happiness. He wouldn't know what to do with it.”
Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer
Source: Tempt Me at Twilight
Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer
Source: God-Shaped Hole
Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810) American novelist, historian and editor
Wieland; or, the Transformation (1798)
Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist
1960s, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1963)
Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist
Travis Parker, Proloque, p. 3
2000s, The Choice (2007)
Ken Livingstone (1945) Mayor of London between 2000 and 2008
Remarks at press conference, 21 March 2006, criticising the businessmen David and Simon Reuben who were obstructing land acquisition for the 2012 Olympics. The Reuben brothers were in fact born in India, to parents of an Iraqi Jewish heritage. Quoted in "Gaffe lands Livingstone back in trouble" by Jill Sherman in The Times (22 March 2006)
“Make thyself perfect; others, happy.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) Catholic bishop
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 76
Johann de Kalb (1721–1780) American general
In August 1780, as quoted in "Death of Baron De Kalb" https://books.google.com/books?id=k2QAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA234&lpg=PA234&dq=%22I+thank+you+sir+for+your+generous+sympathy,+but+I+die+the+death+I+always+prayed+for:+the+death+of+a+soldier+fighting+for+the+rights+of+man%22&source=bl&ots=-93hJzoCYU&sig=tAag8ObQI-ZjiII56viczov02wM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VlYVVcuJI4KmNsazgYgL&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22I%20thank%20you%20sir%20for%20your%20generous%20sympathy%2C%20but%20I%20die%20the%20death%20I%20always%20prayed%20for%3A%20the%20death%20of%20a%20soldier%20fighting%20for%20the%20rights%20of%20man%22&f=false (1849), by Benjamin Franklin Ells, The Western Miscellany, Volume 1, p. 233. <br class="br">1780s
Thomas Gray (1716–1771) English poet, historian
St. 10 <br class="br"> Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=odec (written 1742–1750)
Jeremy Rifkin (1945) American economist
The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism (2014)
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist
Lewis Carroll in the Theatre (1994)
“A woman's exterior beauty is a reflection of her internal peace and happiness.”
Gloria Estefan (1957) Cuban-American singer-songwriter, actress and divorciada
www.beautyblabber.com (July 31, 2007)
2007, 2008
“Clov: When I fall I'll weep for happiness.”
Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) Irish novelist, playwright, and poet
Endgame (1957)
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
Tweet https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/815185071317676033 (31 December 2016) <br class="br">2010s, 2016, December
Nicole Hollander (1939) Cartoonist
Source: Sylvia cartoon strip, p. 9
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
1840s, Past and Present (1843)
Geert Wilders (1963) Dutch politician
Speech http://www.pvv.nl/index.php/36-fj-related/geert-wilders/7981-geert-wilders-speech-danish-free-press-society-copenhagen-2-11-2014.html at the 10 years memorial conference for Theo Van Gogh arranged by the Danish Free Press Society (Copenhagen, 2 November 2014); Video: Geert Wilders speaks in the Danish Parliament Building https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKgpzi0PW0w <br class="br">2010s
Ashrita Furman (1954) American world record holder
euronews.com / (June 23, 2017) http://www.euronews.com/2017/06/23/serial-record-breaker-misses-a-close-shave-with-lawnmower-feat
William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman
Love is Enough (1872), Song III: It Grew Up Without Heeding
Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (1919–1974) Indian writer
At the conclusion of his speech on Indian tradition he recited a passage from Matsyapurana, quoted in "Jayachamaraja Wodeyar – A Princely scholar".
Milton Bradley (baseball) (1978) Major League Baseball player
Star glows, ballots grow for Texas Rangers' Bradley, The Dallas Morning News, Time Cowlishaw, June 6, 2008, 2009-01-04 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/060608dnspocowlishaw.3022001.html?npc,
Hortense Calisher (1911–2009) American novelist, short story writer, and memoirist
Queenie, 1971.