7 Quotes About Happiness
Enjoy our happiness quotes collection by famous authors, philosophers and poets. Best happiness quotes selected by thousands of our users! Funny Happiness Quotes “Be happy. It drives people crazy.”– Unknown “Money does not make you happy. I now have $50 million, but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.”– Arnold Schwarzenegger “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”– George Burns “I’m happy. Which often looks. LDS Quotes on & about Happiness presented in an easy-to-read format. LDS Quotations is a resource for quotes on Happiness and 100s of other topics for talk or lesson prep, or just to browse.
[T]he virtues arise in us neither by nature nor against nature. Rather, we are by nature able to acquire them, and we are completed through habit.
Aristotle describes how virtue, and therefore happiness, can be effectively attained through purposeful practice. Happiness is not something bestowed naturally upon people, nor is happiness incompatible with humanity. Rather, Aristotle views happiness as an activity, not a state, and considers the ultimate goal of humans to be the constant practice of that activity. This view of happiness requires not only the proper mindset but also vigilance and perseverance: Instead of achieving happiness and then forever possessing that feeling, like some sort of trophy, a virtuous person must put in effort every day to attain happiness.
Happiness, then, is not found in amusement; for it would be absurd if the end were amusement, and our lifelong efforts and sufferings aimed at amusing ourselves.
Aristotle further defines happiness as something deeper than temporary excitement, distraction, or pleasure. Though we may feel happy during these times, we will not be fully practicing happiness because these things have no relation to deeper virtue or the achievement of human ability. Aristotle does acknowledge the occasional necessity of amusement but also cautions against mistaking diversion for true happiness—the endless pursuit of diversion can only come at a great ultimate cost to a person, who would never feel fully satisfied in his or her quest.
[I]t seems correct to amuse ourselves so that we can do something serious, as Anacharsis says; for amusement would seem to be relaxation. Relaxation, then, is not the end; for we pursue it [to prepare for] activity.
Aristotle here elaborates further on his belief that amusement, though not true happiness, remains necessary to human life. Though fleeting diversions can distract from a person’s true purpose, Aristotle does not believe that amusement exists as inherently immoral. Rather, he emphasizes the importance of viewing amusement not as an end but as a means to an end. The relaxation of amusing ourselves helps to prepare us for work—if we were to constantly expend our energy, we would eventually lose our ability to secure happiness, just as surely as if we never pursued happiness at all.
[I]f we are enjoying one thing intensely, we do not do another very much. It is when we are only mildly pleased that we do something else; for instance, people who eat nuts in theatres do this most when the actors are bad. Since, then, the proper pleasure makes an activity more exact, longer, and better, whereas an alien pleasure damages it, clearly the two pleasures differ widely. For an alien pleasure does virtually what a proper pain does.
Aristotle notes that another reason pure pleasure does not stand as the end goal of human life is that pleasure’s benefits change based on context, while the benefits of true happiness never do. This malleability makes incorporating pleasure into one’s life difficult because such incorporation requires more careful judgment than a person might expect. To truly contribute to a person’s happiness, pleasure must be embraced with integrity, moderation, and virtuous intent. Otherwise, we are not moving toward any particular goal or sense of completeness; we are simply wallowing in distraction.
[W]e can do fine actions even if we do not rule earth and sea; for even from moderate resources we can do the actions that accord with virtue.
Here, Aristotle allows that external goods and prosperity can, indeed, enhance a person’s happiness. As with the pursuit of pleasure, though, he encourages the practice of restraint. One must accumulate material prosperity only so far as to ensure their own good health, so as to provide a strong foundation from which to contemplate and pursue virtue in daily life. A person without any wealth or possessions may be occupied only with moment-to-moment survival, which will impede their ability to practice happiness. However, Aristotle emphasizes that personal wealth need only be accumulated as much as is practically useful.
The happiness of society is the end of government.
Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness.
It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.
Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.
When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things — not the great occasions — that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of happiness.
What ever our wandering our happiness will always be found within a narrow compass, and in the middle of the objects more immediately within our reach.
Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.
Short Happiness Quotes
I do believe that if you haven't learnt about sadness, you cannot appreciate happiness.
Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won't have to hunt for happiness.
Power, after love, is the first source of happiness.
Happiness – quotes and aphorisms
How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy.
Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.
Science and technology are a propellant for building a thriving country, and the happiness of the people and the future of the country hinge on their development.
Romance and novel paint beauty in colors more charming than nature, and describe a happiness that humans never taste. How deceptive and destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss!
We experience happiness as a series of pleasing moments. They come and go like clouds, unpredictable, fleeting, and without responsibility to our desires. Through honest self-work, reflection, and meditation, we begin to string more of these moments together, creating a web-like design of happiness that drapes around our lives.
A great man does not seek applause or place; he seeks for truth; he seeks the road to happiness, and what he ascertains, he gives to others.
There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.
There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.
Love And Happiness Quotes
A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides in imaginative reflection and judgment, when the picture of one's life, or of human life, as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted.
Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.