There are lots of ways of being miserable, but there's only one way of being comfortable, and that is to stop running round after happiness. If you make up your mind not to be happy there's no reason why you shouldn't have a fairly good time.
—Edith Wharton
Emotions, in my experience, aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret."… I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic train-car constructions, like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." I'd like to show how "intimations of mortality brought on by aging family members" connects to "the hatred of mirrors that begins in middle age." I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar.
—Jeffrey Eugenides
We find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve.
—Maxwell Maltz
Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
—Abraham Lincoln
The secret of happiness is to make others believe they are the cause of it.
—Al Batt
The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.
—Alfred Lord Tennyson
Happiness arises in a state of peace, not of tumult.
—Ann Radcliffe
The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.
—Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values.
—Ayn Rand
Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.
—Benjamin Franklin
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.
—Bertrand Russell
All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it!
—Bob Newhart
Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age.
—Christopher Morley
This is the best kind of voyeurism, hearing joy from your neighbors.
—Chuck Sigars
Sometimes it's hard to avoid the happiness of others.
—David Assael