Quotes About Happiness

The great mass of people do not extract ten per cent, of the happiness possible in their everyday life, largely because they were never trained to think of the normal sources of enjoyment. Their minds are blank, except for the little grooves which their daily routine has stamped in their brain tissue.

Epictetus, the pagan philosopher, proved in his life the truth of his own words — A man can be happy without wealth, without family, without office or honor, without health, without anything that the world seeks after.

Who is the richest of men? asked Socrates. He who is content with the least, for contentment is nature's riches.

and if a straw can tickle a man, it is an instrument of happiness.

In the end, you and I are happier than many – happier than those who do not know love at all and than those who do not know how to find it.

Changing the world is good for those who want their names in books. But being happy, that is for those who write their names in the lives of others, and hold the hearts of others as the treasure most dear.

This emotion I'm feeling now, this is love, right? I don't know. Is it a longing? Is it a giddy stupid happiness just because you're with me? Yes, she said. That's influenza, said Miro. Watch for nausea or diarrhea within a few hours.

Happiness is not a life without pain, but rather a life in which the pain is traded for a worthy price.

The opposite of the happy ending is not actually the sad ending--the sad ending is sometimes the happy ending. The opposite of the happy ending is actually the unsatisfying ending.

We care about moral issues, nobility, decency, happiness, goodness—the issues that matter in the real world, but which can only be addressed, in their purity, in fiction.

It will hurt. said Petra. But let's make the most of what we have, and not let future pain ruin present happiness.

Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf. Survival first, and then happiness as we can manage it.... Take what pleasure you can in the interstices of your work, but your work is first, learning first, winning is everything because without it there is nothing.

Oh, Val, said Father. All you have to do is live your life, and everyone around you will be happier. No greatness, then. Val, said Mother, goodness trumps greatness any day. Not in the history books, said Valentine. Then the wrong people are writing history, aren't they? said Father.

Sometimes happiness consists of finding the right balance of misery.

Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf. Survival first, then happiness as we can manage it.

Happiness can depend as easily on useless things as on useful ones.

Oh, Val," said Father. "All you have to do is live your life, and everyone around you will be happier." "No greatness, then." "Val," said Mother, "goodness trumps greatness any day." "Not in the history books," said Valentine. "Then the wrong people are writing history, aren't they?" said Father.

Still, it's better to believe that some high purpose guides our steps than to think that nothing matters except our own small miseries and happinesses.

None of us could be happy for long, doing nothing. Or perhaps it's just that none of us could be happy living with no other company than ourself.

This would not have a happy ending. So Ender decided that he'd rather not be the unhappiest at the end.

The future happiness of the human race depends on good people who want to live at peace with their neighbors, and who are willing to protect their neighbors from those who don't want peace.

He was cold and tired, but he ignored the cold. Around him stars shone. Some bright, some dim, the most constant things in life. Segundo smiled up at them, happy at least to be dying among friends.

Ender laughed and shook his head. 'You're actually having fun, Val' 'I can't think why I shouldn't.

I've had enough adventures," said Noxon, "to know that boredom is the closest thing to happiness. Boredom means that there's nothing wrong. You're not hungry, you're not in pain. Nobody's making any demands on you. Your mind is free to think whatever you want. The only thing that makes boredom unpleasant is if you're impatient for something else to happen.