Quotes from Gretchen Rubin

You can love someone but not want to keep a gift from that person. It's okay to pass an item along to someone who will appreciate it more.

A 'treat' is different from a 'reward,' which must be justified or earned. A treat is a small pleasure or indulgence that we give to ourselves just because we want it. Treats give us greater vitality, which boosts self-control, which helps us maintain our healthy habits.

I'm much calmer when there's no TV or music playing in the background.

An enormous amount of ingenuity and creativity goes into commercials, and they can be fascinating if you pay attention.

I do better with routines and predictability. I don't react well when there's a sudden change in the schedule.

One thing I wish I could tell my younger self: take photos of everyday life, not special occasions; later, that's what will be interesting to you.

Many people keep photos in their homes, in their office, or in their wallet, and happy families tend to display large numbers of photos at home. In 'Happier at Home,' I write about my 'shrine to my family' made of photographs.

Some kind of clutter is difficult - letting go of things with sentimental value, sifting through papers - but some clutter I find very refreshing to clear. I drive my daughters nuts because I'm always wandering into their rooms to clear clutter.

Give warm greetings and farewells. I was surprised by how much this resolution changed the atmosphere of my home.

I embrace treats, but I'm also very wary of treats. Treats help us feel energized, appreciated, and enthusiastic - but very often, the things we choose as 'treats' aren't good for us. The pleasure lasts a minute, but then feelings of guilt, loss of control, and other negative consequences just deepen the lousiness of the day.

Superstition is the irrational belief that an object or behavior has the power to influence an outcome, when there's no logical connection between them. Most of us aren't superstitious - but most of us are a 'littlestitious.'

Money. It's a good servant but a bad master.

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.

It's the task that's never started that's more tiresome.

Growing up in Kansas City, I was always neat, the teacher's pet, know-it-all type.

The absence of feeling bad isn't enough to make you happy; you must strive to find sources of feeling good

One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.

To eke out the most happiness from an experience, we must anticipate it, savor it as it unfolds, express happiness, and recall a happy memory.

Happiness comes not from having more, not from having less, but from wanting what you have.

Your unhappiness doesn't help anyone else - and in fact, as I mentioned in another answer, happy people are more altruistically inclined. So happiness is not a selfish goal.

Think about what kind of person you are and shape your habits, and your happiness, to show what's true about you instead of thinking that you can just import the right answer from the outside.

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted.

Volunteering to help others is the right thing to do, and it also boosts personal happiness

Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but everyday is a clean state and a fresh opportunity.