These quotes about happiness will certainly uplift your mood.
Happiness is surprisingly difficult to define. Most people accept the psychological definition: a pleasant feeling of well-being that can range from contentment to joy.
Greek philosophers, by contrast, defined happiness more broadly as “eudaimonia” or “flourishing.” They saw it as an activity rather than an emotional state. A happy person was somebody who led a good and fulfilling life. As can be seen by the following quotes about happiness, many people had opinions about what happiness was and how one could become happy.
Quotes About Happiness
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” – Aristotle
In 350 BC, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote the “Nicomachean Ethics,” which declared that happiness was the only thing people valued for its own sake. They valued other things like love or riches, because they believed such things would make them happy. Aristotle also believed that the best and happiest life was governed by reason.
Quotes About Happiness and Purpose
“Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” – Joseph Addison
“Give a man health and a course to steer, and he’ll never stop to trouble about whether he’s happy or not.” — George Bernard Shaw
Many believe that people need a sense of purpose to be happy. They need to feel that their lives have meaning and are contributing in some way to their family or community. A person who feels they have a purpose is less stressed than somebody who sees their life as pointless. As Shaw stated, the former may be too busy following their passion to worry about happiness.
Happiness Quotes About Absence of Pain
Consider these wise words about being happy.
“Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Happiness? That’s nothing more than health and a poor memory.” – Albert Schweitzer
Both Jefferson and Schweitzer describe happiness in its most basic form as an absence of pain. It is very hard to be cheerful if you’re ill and feel physically wretched. Schweitzer’s sarcastic comment about a “poor memory” is actually true: Happy people do not brood on misfortunes or slights.
Attitudes That Lead to Joy
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
“For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Philosophers tend to view happiness as an activity because it takes self-discipline to keep yourself from fretting or brooding over things outside your control. A happy person has learned better than to worry about things they can’t change.
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
The above quote comes from “The Hobbit,” and the speaker is the dying Thorin Oakenshield, who regrets both his greed and his treatment of Bilbo Baggins, the titular hobbit. Thorin realized, belatedly, that gold is less likely to lead to happiness than are the simple pleasures of spending time with friends.
“If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the world belongs to you.” – Lao Tzu
In 2010, researchers at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University studied whether money was linked to happiness. They surveyed 450,000 people over two years. They found two forms of happiness: transient happy moods and a deeper, more constant satisfaction with one’s life. The latter was greatest in people earning around $75,000 per year. A person with that income could pay for their needed things and cover the occasional emergency. The researchers thus found that it is easier to be happy without continuous worry about bills. They also found that happiness had a plateau; people who had a lot of money were no happier than those who had enough to meet their needs.
Final Thoughts on Quotes About Happiness and Kindness
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion” – Dalai Lama
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up.” Mark Twain
The above quotes define happiness as a way of life that satisfies people. The happy person has found a calling and is kind to others. As the last three quotes state, happy people share their good fortune and mood with other people. Helping another person increases satisfaction in both parties. The person helped gets whatever they need, while the helper gets the satisfaction of accomplishing something worthwhile.
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