A Mini-Course on Happiness

Frederic first shared these 30 quotations on happiness via his Twitter account. Since tweets can only be 140 characters each, the quotes are short and easy to assimilate. To practice with them, choose a favorite and copy it on a card to carry with you or post near your computer. Several times a day, reread the quote and contemplate how its message is evident in your life.

  • "Who is rich? One who is happy with what he has."
    — Ethics of the Jewish Fathers
  • "True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary."
    — Sharon Salzberg
  • "Your happiness is a gift because it literally brings out the best in you."
    — Robert Holden
  • "Always leave enough time... to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous."
    — Paul Hawken
  • "I caught the happiness virus last night / When I was out singing beneath the stars."
    — Hafiz
  • "True happiness is found in unselfish love,a love that increases in proportion as it is shared."
    — Thomas Merton
  • "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
    — Abraham Lincoln
  • "The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart."
    — Thich Nhat Hanh
  • "Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."
    — Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • "It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness."
    — Charles Spurgeon
  • "Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing or that but simply growth."
    — William Butler Yeats
  • "Remember that happiness is the way of travel — not a destination."
    — Roy M.Goodman
  • "One who plants a garden plants happiness."
    — Chinese Proverb
  • "Genuine happiness is a symptom of a balanced, healthy mind."
    — B. Alan Wallace
  • "To seek happiness outside ourselves is like trying to lasso a cloud. Happiness is a state of mind."
    — Yogananda
  • "Being happy isn't about feeling good, it's about doing good."
    — Irwin Kula
  • "The key to lasting happiness is to stop looking for it, and to know that you already have it."
    — Deepak Chopra
  • "Contribute to other people's happiness, and you will find the true goal, the true meaning in life."
    — His Holiness the Dalai Lama
  • "Happiness is not having the most, but needing the least."
    — Abraham Twerski
  • "True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new."
    — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  • "This is happiness: to be dissolved into something completely great."
    — Willa Cather
  • "The supreme happiness of life is that we are loved; loved for ourselves."
    — Victor Hugo
  • "This very moment is the seed from which the flowers of tomorrow's happiness grow."
    — Margaret Lindsey
  • "It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis."
    — Margaret Bonnano
  • "The word 'happiness' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness."
    — Carl Jung
  • "In every corner of our life, to lose oneself is a gainer, to forget oneself is to be happy."
    — R.L. Stevenson
  • "Thanks are the highest form of thought, and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
    — G.K. Chesterton
  • "The summit of happiness is when a person is ready to be what he is."
    — Erasmus
  • "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
    — Mahatma Gandhi
  • "For ongoing happiness, nothing matches a relationship that excites, enriches, and uplifts."
    — Joan Duncan Oliver
  • "Here is the secret of happiness: Forget yourself and think of others."
    — Paramananda

More Quotes on Happiness