What is the nature of happiness?

That question has captured the thoughts and imaginations of great philosophers, writers, artists, world leaders, and countless others throughout time.  I love to consider their words and wisdom to find inspiration for today.

The common themes?  Happiness is a personal choice that comes from within rather than from  circumstances.  While some have said that the pursuit of happiness is self-serving, others make the excellent observation that those who are happy can spread joy to others.  Personally, I find that a great reason to choose happiness!

A collection of favorite quotes about happiness

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
~Aristotle

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold; happiness dwells in the soul.
~Democritus

A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.
~Soren Kierkegaard

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
~Benjamin Franklin

I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.
~Martha Washington

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
~Abraham Lincoln

Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings. It’s something we make inside ourselves.
~Corrie ten Boom

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
~Helen Keller

Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions; it is governed by our mental attitude.
~Dale Carnegie

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.
~Henry Ward Beecher

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.
~Charles Spurgeon

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
~Anne Frank

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.
~George Orwell

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

Whoever is happy will make others happy too.
~Anne Frank

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.
~Eleanor Roosevelt