Søren Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813–November 11, 1855) The unhappy person is one who has his ideal, the content of his life, the fullness of his consciousness, the essence of his being, in some manner outside of himself. The unhappy man is always absent from himself, never present to himself. But one can be absent, obviously, …
Anne Gilchrist On Happiness
Anne Gilchrist (February 25, 1828 – November 29, 1885) I used to think it was great to disregard happiness, to press on to a high goal, careless, disdainful of it. But now I see that there is nothing so great as to be capable of happiness; to pluck it out of “each moment and whatever …
Niall Williams On Happiness
Niall Williams We’ve lost our ability to take comfort in small things. When I want a holiday, I go over the road as far as the meadow. I go in there, take off my jacket, and lay down on it. I watch the world turning for a bit, with me still in it. That’s happiness.
Mo Gawdat On Happiness
Mo Gawdat (June 20, 1967 -) Happiness is very much like staying fit. You start with the decision that you are going to get fit, you find out how – but knowing that is not enough, you have to go to the gym to work out and eat healthily. To me the whole topic of …
Sam Harris On Happiness
Sam Harris (April 09, 1967 -) Even in the best of circumstances, happiness is elusive. We seek pleasant sights, sounds, tastes, sensations, and moods. We satisfy our intellectual curiosity. We surround ourselves with friends and loved ones. We become connoisseurs of art, music, or food. But our pleasures are, by their very nature, fleeting. If …
Hannah Arendt On Pursuit Of Happiness
Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 – December 04, 1975) Among the many surprises this country holds in store for its new citizens… there is the amazing discovery that the “pursuit of happiness,” which the Declaration of Independence asserted to be one of the inalienable human rights, has remained to this day considerably more than a …
John Keats On Happiness
John Keats (October 31, 1795 – February 23, 182) I scarcely remember counting upon any Happiness - I look not for it if it be not in the present hour - nothing startles me beyond the Moment. The setting sun will always set me to rights - or if a sparrow come before my window …
Adyashanti On Happiness
Adyashanti (October 26, 1962 -) True happiness is derived from being completely committed to what provides you the most meaningful experience of being.
Nimblewill Nomad On Happiness
Nimblewill Nomad (1938 -) aka Meredith J. Eberhart. I tell my friends: every year I’ve got less and less, and every year I’m a happier man. I just wonder what it’s going to be like when I don’t have anything. That’s the way we come, and that’s the way we go. I’m just preparing for …
Seneca On Happiness
Seneca (c. 4 BC – AD65) It was nature’s intention that there should be no need of great equipment for a good life: every individual can make himself happy. External goods are of trivial importance and without much influence in either direction: prosperity does not elevate the sage and adversity does not depress him. For …
Carl Jung On Happiness
Carl Jung (July 26, 1875 – June 06, 1961) There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by …
Sylvia Plath On Happiness
Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932– February 11, 1963) Photo Credit: Plath, Sylvia. Bell Jar. New York, N.Y: Harper and Row, 1971. Photo Back Cover "Come on, give us a smile." I sat on the pink velvet love seat in Jay Cee's office, holding a paper rose and facing the magazine photographer....I didn't want my picture …
