Quotes About Joy

The essence of living is discovering. Indeed, it is the joy of discovery that makes life worth the effort.

It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.

Pleasure in itself cannot give our existence meaning; thus the lack of pleasure cannot take away meaning from life

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was duty. I worked—and behold, duty was joy.

I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.

As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy

But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to "be happy." Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically.

We came to meadows full of flowers. We saw and realized that they were there, but we had no feelings about them. The first spark of joy came when we saw a rooster with a tail of multicolored feathers. But it remained only a spark; we did not yet belong to this world.

human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation.

Comprendí como el hombre, desposeído de todo en este mundo, todavía puede conocer la felicidad -aunque sea momentáneamente- si contempla al ser querido.

happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to "be happy.

a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy

But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to be happy. Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically

human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy

How beautiful the world could be!

Viewing her life as if from her deathbed, she had suddenly been able to see a meaning in it, a meaning which even included all of her sufferings. By the same token, however, it had become clear as well that a life of short duration, like that, for example, of her dead boy, could be so rich in joy and love that it could contain more meaning than a life lasting eighty years.

To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to be happy. But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to be happy. [...] If you want anyone to laugh you have to provide him with a reason, e.g., you have to tell him a joke.

It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness. Happiness cannot be pursued. It must ensue. Happiness is available only as a by-product, as the side-effect of living out the self-transcendence of existence.

Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to be happy. Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically. Humans are rather in search of of a reason to be happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent in a given situtation.

Come potrebbe essere bello il mondo!

he says: I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was duty. I worked – and behold, duty was joy.

el sufrimiento humano actúa como un gas en una cámara vacía; el gas se expande por completo y regularmente por todo el interior, con independencia de la capacidad del recipiente. Análogamente, cualquier sufrimiento, fuerte o débil, ocupa la conciencia y el alma entera del hombre. De donde se deduce que el «tamaño» del sufrimiento humano es absolutamente relativo. Y a la inversa, la cosa más menuda puede generar las mayores alegrías.

We came to meadows full of flowers. We saw and realized that they were there, but we had no feelings about them. The first spark of joy came when we saw a rooster with a tail of multicolored feathers. But it remained only a spark; we did not yet belonged to this world.

When we are collecting books, we are collecting happiness.