Happiness Quotes

So many GREAT quotes were submitted for the contest I hosted a few months ago. I find myself referencing them a lot and thought it would be nice to have them posted in an area that's more accessible. So here it is, a list of happiness quotes, courtesy of those of you that entered the contest.

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The great blessings of mankind are with us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he was not.
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved
- George Sand

Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.
- Buddha

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.
- Denise Waitley

I will bring order from chaos and light from darkness.
- from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

The first step toward happiness is to determine to be happy.
- George Hodges

Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.
- anonymous

Happiness: We rarely feel it. I would buy it, beg it, steal it, pay in coins of dripping blood for this one transcendent good.
- Amy Lowell

Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.
- Mark Twain

Life is not measured by the number breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.
- unknown

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
- Abraham Lincoln

Le bonheur vient vers ceux qui croirent en lui.
(happiness comes towards those which believe in him)
- Ali Ibn Abu Talib

The greatest legacy we can leave our children is happy memories.
- Og Mandino

All it takes to be happy is to love the right things in the right amount.
- The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Happiness is when my daughters get along!
- Melissa Wood

Joy is not the absence of pain but the presence of God.

Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.
- Victor Hugo

It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; It's making a great deal out of the little ones.
- Jean Webster

Everyone smiles in the same language.
- author unknown

Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for pease and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is not happiness in having or getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour onto others without getting a few drops on yourself.
- Og Mandino

Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or hat which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ousrelves.
- Helen Keller

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
- Albert Schweitzer

A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells the world you are at home.
- Denis Waitley

"Are you happy mommy?
Yes, are you happy?
Yes!
What makes you happy sweetie?
Ummm...me...and you...and you and me!!"
- Payton Cruz, age 2

Happiness is not having or being - it's in the doing.
- Lillian Watson

A little girl, asked where her home was, replied, "Where mother is."
- Keith L. Brooks

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
- Nathaniel Hawthorn

Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves.
- James M. Barrie

Happiness is a journey, not a destination; happiness is to be found along the way not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it's too late. The time for happiness is today not tomorrow.
- Quoted by Paul H. Dunn

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
- Leo Buscaglia

Happiness isn't happiness without a violin-playing goat.
- from "notting hill", said by julia roberts...don't know who wrote the movie.

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.
- Author unknown

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness = 1 brand new dress + 1 heart barrette + 1 goofy mama behind the camera
- Cathy Pascual

Few things are more rewarding than a child's open uncalculating devotion.
- Vera Brittain

"I shall take the heart," returned the Tin Woodman; "for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world."
- The tin man in L. Frank Baum's "Wizard of Oz"

Happiness is the feeling you're feeling when you want to keep feeling it.
- Author Unknown

Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.
- Author Unknown

Sitting there in your pajamas & all the time in the world & if I could keep any moment it would be this: watching you & holding my breath with the wonder of it all.
- From the Storypeople print "The Wonder of it All" by Brian Andreas

Happiness is a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

If you want to be happy, be.
- Leo Tolstoy

And one who is just of his own free will shall not lack for happiness; and he will never come to utter ruin.
-Aeschylus

We perhaps need to snatch happiness in little pieces, learning to recognize the elements of happiness and then treasuring them while they last.
- James E. Faust

In all of life, have much fun and laughter; life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.
- Gordon B. Hinckley

Happiness does not depend on the outward things, but on the way we see them.
- Leo Tolstoy

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be"
- Abraham Lincoln

Happiness is a very small desk and a very big wastebasket.
- Robert Orben

Happiness is a bunny...
- Sue Cummings

"Think Happy Thoughts"

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
- Charles Kinglsey

We lachen hard om een mop. We glimlachen zachtjes om het geluk.
(The translation is something like this: 'A joke makes us laugh out loud. Happiness makes us smile softly.)
- Belgian poet Georges van Acker

I have only two kinds of days: happy and hysterically happy.
- Allen J. Lefferdink

Le bonheur cest comme le sucre a la creme, si ten veux, tu ten fais.
(mean: the happiness is like fudge, if you want it, make some for yourself.)

If you give love to people that need you, give food to hungry people take care on people in bad health than there is already heaven on earth and Jesus with us.....

You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
- from Pooh's Grand Adventure

Happiness isn't something you experience, it's something you remember.
- Oscar Levant

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.
- Anne Frank

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
- Father Alfred D'Souza

Never put off happiness for the sake of achievement!
- From the book "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari"


Le bonheur n'est pas chose aisée. Il est très difficile de le trouver en nous, il est impossible de le trouver ailleurs.
- Bouddha

Happiness is not easy thing. It is very difficult to find it in us, it is impossible to find it elsewhere.
- Bouddha

A day without laughter is a day wasted.
- Charlie Chaplin

You know it is love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you are not part of their happiness.
- Julia Roberts

If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!!
- Anonymous

It's only forever, not long at all.
- David Bowie says this in the movie Labyrinth

Happiness is something that multiplies when it is divided
(the original french sentence : Le bonheur est quelque chose qui se multiplie quand il se divise)
- Paolo Coehlo

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
- C.S. Lewis

Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!
- Amanda Bradley

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
- John 3:16

Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
- Margaret Lee Runbeck


Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

The best vitamin to be a happy person is B1.
- Author Unknown

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.
- Author Unknown

When I take a moment to close my eyes, shut out the chaos of my life and remember how lucky I am - lucky to have two beautiful children and loving husband. I can't help but smile and feel totally happy when I'm in this moment.
- Jill

Things should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.
- Albert Einstein

God's favour is happiness.
- from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
- Benjamin Franklin

A picture is worth a thousand words.
- Fred R. Barnard

The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
- Allan K. Chalmers

Mama, you make me happy, you are my most favorite mama in the world.
- quoted from Debbie's DD

Happiness does not depend on what happens outside of you, but what happens inside of you.
- Harold B. Lee

The bigger your dreams, the better your success.
- Myra

I’d rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because
A could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star.
I’d rather be a has-been than a might-have been,
By far; for a might have-been has never been,
But a has-been was once an are.
- Milton Berle

A life without happiness is no life at all.
- Megan's adaptation of a quote from her favorite movie Ever After: "A life without love is not life at all."

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
- Helen Keller

Don't cry because its over, Smile because it happened.
- Dr. Suess

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
- H.H. The Dalai Lama

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

Live. Laugh. Love

I always knew looking back on my tears would bring me laughter, but I never knew looking back on my laughter would make me cry.
- Cat Stevens

Really, sex and laughter do go very well together, and I wondered - and I still do - which is more important.
- Hermione Gingold

A smile starts on the lips, A grin spreads to the eyes, A chuckle comes from the belly; But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, Overflows, and bubbles all around.
- Carolyn Birmingham

To love someone deeply gives you strength.
Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao-Tzu

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
-Eric Hoffer

One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them…
- Willa Cather

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Happiness is like jam...when you spead it, it gets all over the place.
- from commercial, author unknown

A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
- George Bernard Shaw


Le seul bonheur qu'on a vient du bonheur qu'on donne.
(translated by Ange: The only happiness we have got comes from the one that we give)
- d'Edouard Pailleron

Happiness is ... a seed that God had planted in our heart, and we have to learn during the whole life to make it grow and flourish in a splendid flower, by learning to love each other
- Adina Militaru, Romania

Laughter is a smile that bursts.
- Author not known

Don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
- Harold Whitman