Quotes about happiness
page 33

Gertrude Stein photo
Roberto Clemente photo

“These were great fans when I first play here, and they are still great. These fans never boo. They become frustrated because the Dodgers used to bring up some of the better minor-league players from here, but they never boo. Now, they are happy to have a big league team, and they are willing to wait five years, like the Mets' fans did, for the team to begin winning. But the thing that amazes me more than the players not being booed is the umpires. They never hear it from the fans, either, no matter if it does seem to be a bad call.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

On revisiting Montreal, 15 years later; as quoted in "Sports Beat: Expo Fans OK -- Clemente" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Mc8yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DZYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7275%2C865101 by Bill Christine, in The Pittsburgh Press (Friday, July 18, 1969), p. 22
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1969</big>

Nisargadatta Maharaj photo
Susan Cain photo

“We have a two-tier class system when it comes to personality style. To devalue introversion is a waste of talent, energy and happiness.”

Susan Cain (1968) self-help writer

Bielski, Zosia (interviewer), "Giving introverts permission to be themselves," The Globe and Mail, January 26, 2012.

Cyrano de Bergerac photo

“Monty went beserk, like a toddler who's just been told he can't have a Happy Meal.”

Ben Dirs journalist

England vs West Indies, 1st Test as it happened, 2007-19-05, BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/6672179.stm,

John Ruysbroeck photo
André Maurois photo
Timothy Ferriss photo
Stevie Wonder photo
Arthur Rubinstein photo

“We don't know happiness without unhappiness, gaiety without sadness, and happiness can only be felt if you don't set any conditions.”

Arthur Rubinstein (1887–1982) Polish-American classical pianist

Statement made to a correspondent in Paris in 1976 — reported in John Callcott, United Press International (December 21, 1982) "Arthur Rubinstein, At Age 95; Concert Pianist and Bon Vivant, Boston Globe.
Attributed

Margaret Thatcher photo
Pete Yorn photo
Frances Burney photo
Naomi Watts photo

“I consider myself British and have very happy memories of the UK. I spent the first 14 years of my life in England and never wanted to leave. When I was in Australia I went back to England a lot.”

Naomi Watts (1968) British actress and film producer

[Watts turns back on Australia, April 24 2007, http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21607413-5006002,00.html, The Daily Telegraph, 2007-04-24, https://archive.is/LR0E, 2012-05-29]

Roger Ebert photo
African Spir photo
Marie Windsor photo
James David Forbes photo

“Most merciful and gracious God, who hast preserved me unto this hour, I most humbly acknowledge Thee as the guide and companion of my youth. Thou hast protected me through the dangers of infancy and childhood, and in my youth Thou didst bless me with the full enjoyment, the happy intimacy, of the best of fathers. Be as gracious and merciful then as Thou hast hitherto been, now that I am about to enter a new stage of existence. Teach me, I beseech Thee, to strengthen in my soul the cultivation of Thy truth, the recollection of the uncertainty of life, the greatness of the objects for which I was created. Revive those delightful religious impressions which in early days I felt more strongly than now; and as Thou hast been pleased lately to permit me to look to a way of life to which formerly I dared not to do, let the leisure I shall enjoy enlarge my warmth of heart towards Thee. Make every branch of study which I may pursue strengthen my confidence in Thy ever-ruling providence, that, undeceived by views of false philosophy, I may ever in singleness of heart elevate my mind from Thy works unto Thy divine essence. Keep from me a vain and overbearing spirit; let me- ever have a thorough sense of my own ignorance and weakness; and keep me through all the trials and troubles of a transitory state in body and soul unto everlasting life, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.”

James David Forbes (1809–1868) Scottish physicist and glaciologist

"Completing my Twenty-first Year" (1839), a prayer written by Forbes on April 20th, 1830. Life and letters of James David Forbes p. 450.

James Russell Lowell photo

“Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it;
We are happy now because God wills it.”

James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat

Prelude to Pt. I, st. 6
The Vision of Sir Launfal (1848)

Karl Pilkington photo

“On seeing an ultrasound picture- It was an awkward situation because she was happy with it. I was like 'Oh God'. It was an odd looking thing. I couldn't say 'Oh, it looks like you' because that would be a dis.”

Karl Pilkington (1972) English television personality, social commentator, actor, author and former radio producer

Podcast Series 2 Episode 2
On Medicine

Fyodor Dostoyevsky photo

“Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) Russian author

Part II, Ch. I
The Possessed (1872)

Pierre Trudeau photo

“I don't really know what a cyclotron is but I am certainly very happy Canada has one!”

Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000) 15th Prime Minister of Canada

Visiting the TRIUMF cyclotron in (February 1976), as quoted in "A Canadian TRIUMF" http://www.alumni.ubc.ca/grad_gazette/grad_gazette_june_2005.html in Grad Gazzette [University of British Columbia] (June 2005)

Luís de Camões photo

“This is my happy land, my home, my pride.”

Luís de Camões (1524–1580) Portuguese poet

Esta é a ditosa pátria minha amada.
Stanza 21, line 1 (tr. Richard Francis Burton)
Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto III

James Madison photo

“Behold you, then, my dear friend, at the head of a great army, establishing the liberties of your country against a foreign enemy. May heaven favor your cause, and make you the channel through which it may pour its favors. While you are exterminating the monster aristocracy, and pulling out the teeth and fangs of its associate, monarchy, a contrary tendency is discovered in some here. A sect has shown itself among us, who declare they espoused our new Constitution, not as a good and sufficient thing in itself, but only as a step to an English constitution, the only thing good and sufficient in itself, in their eye. It is happy for us that these are preachers without followers, and that our people are firm and constant in their republican purity. You will wonder to be told that it is from the eastward chiefly that these champions for a king, lords and commons come. They get some important associates from New York, and are puffed up by a tribe of agitators which have been hatched in a bed of corruption made up after the model of their beloved England. Too many of these stock-jobbers and king-jobbers have come into our legislature, or rather too many of our legislature have become stock-jobbers and king-jobbers. However, the voice of the people is beginning to make itself heard, and will probably cleanse their seats at the ensuing election.”

James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)

Letter to Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (16 June 1792)
1790s

Karl Pilkington photo

“This isn't Amazon where you can go "I'm not happy with the product" and pop it back in the post. Thats it, you've got it”

Karl Pilkington (1972) English television personality, social commentator, actor, author and former radio producer

The Moaning of Life, Karl on Kids

George Mason photo
Emma Orczy photo
Harbhajan Singh Yogi photo

“Happiness comes out of contentment, and contentment always comes out of service.”

Harbhajan Singh Yogi (1929–2004) Indian-American Sikh Yogi

As quoted in Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom : A Collection of 10, 000 Powerful Quotations (2003) by Andy Zubko, p. 71

Chinua Achebe photo
John Pratt photo
André Maurois photo

“Happiness flourishes where there is happiness, and love withers quickly in an atmosphere of constraint and gloom.”

André Maurois (1885–1967) French writer

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Loving

Sammy Cahn photo

“Three coins in a fountain
Each one seeking happiness
Thrown by three hopeful lovers
Which one will the fountain bless?”

Sammy Cahn (1913–1993) American lyricist, songwriter, musician

Three Coins in a Fountain (1954)
Song lyrics

John Buchan photo

“There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness.”

John Buchan (1875–1940) British politician

Pilgrim's Way (1940), p. 117
Memory Hold-The-Door (1940)

Narada Maha Thera photo
Joan Rivers photo

“People say money is not the key to happiness, but I've always figured if you have enough money you can get a key made.”

Joan Rivers (1933–2014) American comedian, actress, and television host

As quoted in Seriously Funny (2009), by G. Nachman, p. 606

Andrew Scheer photo

“Jewish people in Canada, Israel and around the world will begin celebrating Purim. I would like to extend my best wishes to the community as you celebrate with some of the happiest traditions of the holiday. Chag Purim Sameach!
Happy Purim! Chag Sameach! This evening, Jewish people in Canada, Israel and around the world will begin celebrating Purim. This delightful holiday tells the story of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai, who saved the Jewish community of ancient Persia from their persecutor, Haman. Purim celebrates their heroism and bravery, which led to the survival and victory of the Jewish people. For all Canadians, the story of Purim is a reminder of the freedoms we enjoy and our duty to stand against religious intolerance.
I would like to extend my best wishes to Canada’s Jewish community as you celebrate with some of the happiest traditions of the holiday: the reading of the Book of Esther (Megillat Esther); the exchange of special gift baskets with family and friends (Mishloach Manot); and, of course, eating delicious Hamentashen pastries. Have a fun and festive celebration! Happy Purim! Freilichen Purim!”

Andrew Scheer (1979) 35th Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons and MP for Regina—Qu'Appelle

28 February 2018 tweet https://twitter.com/andrewscheer/status/968965231987830786?lang=en referencing Facebook post https://www.facebook.com/notes/andrew-scheer/happy-purim/1939533102747099/

David Silverman photo
George Herbert photo

“[ There is an hour wherein a man might be happy all his life, could he find it. ]”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

Matthew Stover photo
Frederik Pohl photo
Hugh Blair photo
Alain-Fournier photo
John Lancaster Spalding photo
George Mason photo
Hank Green photo
William Pitt the Younger photo
Oliver Goldsmith photo

“To what happy accident is it that we owe so unexpected a visit?”

Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 19.

Girolamo Cardano photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo
Otto Pfleiderer photo

“Here is the basis of the modern critical biblical science, which treats the documents of Christianity and Judaism according to the same principles of historical investigation which are valid in all other historical domains, particularly in that of the history of the ethnic religions.
The attempt has been crowned with brilliant success. Everywhere, where formerly miracles and oracles, the activity of supernatural persons, and the appearance on the scene of supernatural beings were thought to be discerned, there shows itself now a constant succession of events that are natural, i. e. in accord with the universal laws of human experience. The prophets appear no longer as media of supernatural oracles, but as men whose works and words are perfectly explicable from the character regarded in connection with the conditions of their age and environment. They stand, indeed, in a certain respect above their contemporaries, so far as they contest the modes of thought and action of the latter, and hold before them higher ideals of purer piety and morality; yet these ideals were not communicated to them from without by supernatural revelation, but sprang from their own spirit as products of an especially powerful and happy religious-moral nature, which, under the influence of historical relations, had been so developed that they saw clearly what was perverted in the mode of thought of others, and gave to the better a potent expression.”

Otto Pfleiderer (1839–1908) German Protestant theologian

Source: Evolution and Theology (1900), pp. 10-11.

John Stuart Mill photo
Bernie Sanders photo

“Are we happy that 99% of all new income is going to the top 1%? Are we happy that one family in this country owns more than the bottom 130 million people?”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

Late Night with Seth Meyers, (2 June 2015)
2010s, 2015

Eugene V. Debs photo
Halldór Laxness photo
Akio Morita photo

“We want to keep the company healthy and its employees happy, and we want to keep them on the job and productive.”

Akio Morita (1921–1999) Japanese businessman

Source: Made in Japan (1986), p. 144.

Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Sr. photo
Eugène Delacroix photo

“How to control my sex instinct so as to make it conduce my permanent happiness and not to disease, mental misery, and the wrecking of my career.”

Frank Crane (1861–1928) American Presbyterian minister

Four Minute Essays Vol. 7 (1919), A School for Living

Svetlana Alliluyeva photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Winston S. Churchill photo
Anne Rice photo
James Anthony Froude photo
George Will photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“... Oh! the heart
Makes its own happiness, perchance the best,
When consecrate to one engrossing love!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

The London Literary Gazette, 1829

Adrienne von Speyr photo
Hariprasad Chaurasia photo
Tigran Petrosian photo

“Chess is a game by its form, an art by its content and a science by the difficulty of gaining mastery in it. Chess can convey as much happiness as a good book or work of music can.”

Tigran Petrosian (1929–1984) Soviet Georgian Armenian chess player and chess writer

Attributed without citation in "Tigran Petrosian's Best Games" http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1014968 at chessgames.com

Adam Smith photo
Samuel I. Prime photo

“Happy are they who freely mingle prayer and toil till God responds to the one and rewards the other.”

Samuel I. Prime (1812–1885) American clergyman, traveler, and writer

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 468.

Aung San Suu Kyi photo
Clive Staples Lewis photo
Eugène Delacroix photo
Farah Pahlavi photo
John Muir photo
Woodrow Wilson photo
Prem Rawat photo
Patrick Modiano photo
Václav Havel photo
Thomas Fuller (writer) photo
H.L. Mencken photo
José Rizal photo
William Lane Craig photo

“Hitchens: I've got another question for you, which is this: How many religions in the world do you believe to be false?
Craig: I don't know how many religions in the world there are, so I can’t answer.
Hitchens: Well, could you name... fair enough. I'll see if I can't narrow that down. That was a clumsily asked question, I admit. Do you regard any of the world's religions to be false?
Craig: Excuse me?
Hitchens: Do you regard any of the world's religions to be false preaching?
Craig: Yes, I think—yes, certainly.
Hitchens: Would you name one, then?
Craig: Islam.
Hitchens: That's quite a lot.
Craig: Pardon me?
Hitchens: That's quite a lot.
Craig: Yes.
Hitchens: Do you, therefore—do you think it's moral to preach false religion?
Craig: No.
Hitchens: So religion is responsible for quite a lot of wickedness in the world right there?
Craig: Certainly.
Hitchens: Right.
Craig: I'd be happy to concede (laughs) that. I would agree with that.
Hitchens: So if I was a baby being born in Saudi Arabia today, would you rather it was me or a Wahhabi Muslim?
Craig: Would I be—you rather be what?
Hitchens: Would you rather it was me—it was an atheist baby or a Wahhabi baby?
(Audience and Dr. Craig laugh):
Craig: I-I don't have any preference as to whether you would be... (laughing)
Hitchens: You don’t? As bad as that, O. K. Are there any—I'm sorry. I've only got a few seconds. It's a serious question. I shouldn't squander it. Are there any Christian denominations you regard as false?
Craig: Certainly.
Hitchens: Could I know what they are?
Craig: Well, I am not a Calvinist, for example. I think that certain tenets of Reformed Theology are incorrect. I would be more in the Wesleyan Camp myself. But these are differences among brethren. These are not differences on which we need to put one another in some sort of a cage. So within the Christian camp, there's a large diversity of perspectives. I'm sure there are views that I hold that are probably false, but I'm trying my best to get my theology straight, trying to do the best job. But I think all of us would recognize that none of us agree on every point of Christian doctrine, on every dot and tittle.”

William Lane Craig (1949) American Christian apologist and evangelist

Craig vs Christopher Hitchens debate, Biola University, La Mirada, California, 4th April 2009 http://www.reasonablefaith.org/does-god-exist-craig-vs-hitchens-apr-2009#section_6

Éamon de Valera photo

“The ideal Ireland that we would have, the Ireland that we dreamed of, would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as a basis for right living, of a people who, satisfied with frugal comfort, devoted their leisure to the things of the spirit – a land whose countryside would be bright with cosy homesteads, whose fields and villages would be joyous with the sounds of industry, with the romping of sturdy children, the contest of athletic youths and the laughter of happy maidens, whose firesides would be forums for the wisdom of serene old age. The home, in short, of a people living the life that God desires that men should live. With the tidings that make such an Ireland possible, St. Patrick came to our ancestors fifteen hundred years ago promising happiness here no less than happiness hereafter. It was the pursuit of such an Ireland that later made our country worthy to be called the island of saints and scholars. It was the idea of such an Ireland - happy, vigorous, spiritual - that fired the imagination of our poets; that made successive generations of patriotic men give their lives to win religious and political liberty; and that will urge men in our own and future generations to die, if need be, so that these liberties may be preserved. One hundred years ago, the Young Irelanders, by holding up the vision of such an Ireland before the people, inspired and moved them spiritually as our people had hardly been moved since the Golden Age of Irish civilisation. Fifty years later, the founders of the Gaelic League similarly inspired and moved the people of their day. So, later, did the leaders of the Irish Volunteers. We of this time, if we have the will and active enthusiasm, have the opportunity to inspire and move our generation in like manner. We can do so by keeping this thought of a noble future for our country constantly before our eyes, ever seeking in action to bring that future into being, and ever remembering that it is for our nation as a whole that future must be sought.”

Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) 3rd President of Ireland

Radio broadcast http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/eamon-de-valera/719124-address-by-mr-de-valera/, "On Language & the Irish Nation" (17 March 1943), often called "The Ireland that we dreamed of" speech

William Lane Craig photo
W.E.B. Du Bois photo
John Ruskin photo
Frederick Douglass photo

“The slave is a man, "the image of God," but "a little lower than the angels;" possessing a soul, eternal and indestructible; capable of endless happiness, or immeasurable woe; a creature of hopes and fears, of affections and passions, of joys and sorrows, and he is endowed with those mysterious powers by which man soars above the things of time and sense, and grasps, with undying tenacity, the elevating and sublimely glorious idea of a God. It is such a being that is smitten and blasted. The first work of slavery is to mar and deface those characteristics of its victims which distinguish men from things, and persons from property. Its first aim is to destroy all sense of high moral and religious responsibility. It reduces man to a mere machine. It cuts him off from his Maker, it hides from him the laws of God, and leaves him to grope his way from time to eternity in the dark, under the arbitrary and despotic control of a frail, depraved, and sinful fellow-man. As the serpent-charmer of India is compelled to extract the deadly teeth of his venomous prey before he is able to handle him with impunity, so the slaveholder must strike down the conscience of the slave before he can obtain the entire mastery over his victim.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

The Nature of Slavery. Extract from a Lecture on Slavery, at Rochester, December 1, 1850
1850s, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)