Today is International Day of Happiness, so we’ve compiled 20 of our favourite quotes from writers about happiness, joy, pleasure, and related emotions. We hope you enjoy them!
‘Happiness in the ordinary sense is not what one needs in life, though one is right to aim at it. The true satisfaction is to come through and see those whom one loves come through.’ – E. M. Forster
‘One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.’ – Jane Austen
‘What is there given by the gods more desirable than a happy hour?’ – Catullus
‘Happiness, to some elation; / Is to others, mere stagnation.’ – Amy Lowell
‘There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness.’ – John Buchan
‘There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.’ – Samuel Johnson
‘The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books.’ – Katherine Mansfield
‘Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never attained. Follow some other object, and very possibly we may find that we have caught happiness without dreaming of it.’ – Nathaniel Hawthorne
‘A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.’ – Helen Keller
‘It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.’ – Chuck Palahniuk
‘Happiness lies in the consciousness we have of it, and by no means in the way the future keeps its promises.’ – George Sand
‘Oh, frabjous day! Callooh. Callay! / He chortled in his joy.’ – Lewis Carroll
‘Nothing thicker than a knife’s blade separates happiness from melancholy.’ – Virginia Woolf
‘The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose.’ – George Gissing
‘If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.’ – Edith Wharton
‘Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.’ – Ernest Hemingway
‘One has to spend so many years in learning how to be happy. I am just beginning to make some progress in the science, and I hope to disprove Young’s theory that “as soon as we have found the key of life it opes the gates of death.” Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead. I never will believe that our youngest days are our happiest. What a miserable augury for the progress of the race and the destination of the individual if the more matured and enlightened state is the less happy one!’ – George Eliot
‘Hold him alone truly fortunate who has ended his life in happy well-being.’ – Aeschylus
‘Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.’ – Oscar Wilde
‘If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.’ – J. R. R. Tolkien
That cat is gorgeous!
I agree! The perfect visual accompaniment to these wise words :)
Reblogged this on Lavender Turquois.
And sometimes just a smiling cat can get you there!
Indeed! :)
Reblogged this on The Writing Catalog and commented:
Nice quotes here.
I didn’t know there was such a thing as International Day of Happiness. Just by coincidence, today I posted a review of a book called Happiness. I love these quotes!
What a ‘happy’ coincidence! :)
You always have great posts! I love seeing them in my feed because I know I’m in for something good.
Thank you – what a fine compliment!
Reblogged this on Margarita Morris and commented:
Well I’m very happy today because I’m celebrating my 21st wedding anniversary. Here are some thoughts from the Interesting Literature blog on the subject of happiness!
Ah a reason for a day of happiness, forgive me if I share one of my favourites :) It makes me think of you.
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
― Aristotle
Blessings, Susan x
Marvellous! That’s a fine quotation – I’m inclined to agree with Aristotle :)
Thank you :)
Susan x
Well done!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for this post! It definitely brought a smile to my Thursday!!! My favorite is Tolkien’s!!!!
Glad you liked it! And yes, Tolkien’s is an apt one to end the list with given recent world events!
Oscar Wilde gets my vote! He must have known some of the same kind of people I know! :)
Oscar gets my vote too…
I agree – like all of the best Wilde quotations, it’s wise and witty, with a pleasing economy of language (but that’s a bad way of putting it)…
Reblogged this on i hope you'll understand and commented:
That freaking kitty. I’m squealing.
Happiness, happiness / The greatest gift that I possess. /
I thank the Lord that I’ve been blessed / With more than my share of happiness.
— as sung by Ken Dodd
Haha, marvellous! Although I’ve always detected a faint pun on ‘happiness’ – perhaps my mind’s in the gutter…
Remove it from there at once or urine trouble…
I like the Oscar but am drawn to the Helen Keller. I’m in a hard won happy place at the moment and her words mean something to me.
Hear, hear – I love Keller’s words of wisdom too.
Good post; my last blog was also about “happiness”!
Thanks – and what a happy coincidence! :)
Made me happy to read these quotes, especially after a nice discussion on happiness in my writing group this morning.
How marvellous! Happy (belated) International Day of Happiness!
Reblogged this on Halley Does.
Reblogged this on Introspective Seeker and commented:
Such a great post!! Happy, happy, happy International Happiness Day!!
Lovely! Thank you 😃
Thanks – glad you enjoyed it!
The cat is fabulous and makes me smile. What a wonderful face. All cats are perfect so it’s no surprise that I fell in love with this one, but s/he’s smiling so contentedly…adorable.
I know – I’ve seen the picture before and when I was looking for the perfect picture to accompany this post, I stumbled upon it again. A lovely cat!
I agree with hitandrun1964 – this cat made /me/ happy. Thank you :)
You’re welcome! :)
Reblogged this on Tintobear and commented:
Couldn’t not share this!
Reblogged this on Claire Elizabeth Cruddas and commented:
I liked this:-)
I enjoyed all these quotes and really agree with George Elliot….so much to be happy about if you have it in, or make it your nature at any age.
Thanks, Susan – I agree, the Eliot one was too good not to include!
The cat says it all. Live Long and Prosper should be added.
Indeed! Star Trek had it sorted…
Reblogged this on Read It & Weep.
Reblogged this on D.e.e.L's Writing and Various Nonsense.
‘A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.’ – Helen Keller
I truly agree! Will reblog this.
Am happy that you decided to post this!
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the wingèd life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
William Blake
Love the quotes and have fallen in love with the smiling cat. Thank you!
thanks for liking my short story! i like this post :)
“Happiness is not a potato, to be planted in mould, and tilled with manure. Happiness is a glory shining far down upon us out of Heaven. She is a divine dew which the soul, on certain of its summer mornings, feels dropping upon it from the amaranth bloom and golden fruitage of Paradise.” – Charlotte Bronte, Villette
“I certainly wasn’t happy. Happiness has to do with reason, and only reason earns it. What I was given was the thing you can’t earn, and can’t keep, and often don’t even recognize at the time; I mean joy.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
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