“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination. The good life constitutes a direction selected by the total organism, when there is psychological freedom to move in ANY direction.”
Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts (Page 93)
Happiness Quotes
“The happiness we have today is built on the ordinary life we had before we married. The happiness that is derived from ordinary life lasts longer; like coal, it burns gradually and slowly. The happiness that is derived from excitement is like a brilliant fire—soon it will go out. Many young couples live a very exciting life when they are in love. So, when they marry, and their lives are reduced to calmness and dullness, they will feel impatient and will drink the bitter cup of a sad marriage.”
Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts (Page 86)
“You should do goodness without choosing to whom. Good things, once done, will never disappear, even if you forget about them. There is only one way to be happy, and this is a sure way: to do goodness and to share this goodness with others.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 244)
“Where do you find happiness? Is it out there somewhere waiting to be discovered? Under a rock? Out in the woods? Buried in the desert? Where do you find it? You don’t find happiness. You make it. You put forth effort. You work for it. You take on responsibility. You put yourself out there; you take risk to achieve a worthy goal. And in that pursuit, if you pay attention, if you look around, you will find happiness.”
Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom (Page 131)
“The joy of your spirit is the indication of your strength.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 164)
My Uncle Alex, who is up in Heaven now, one of the things he found objectionable about human beings was that they so rarely noticed it when times were sweet. We could be drinking lemonade in the shade of an apple tree in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, “If this isn’t nice, what is?” So I hope that you will do the same for the rest of your lives. When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, “If this isn’t nice, what is?”
Kurt Vonnegut
“You have to make your own happiness, wherever you are. Your job isn’t going to make you happy, your spouse isn’t going to make you happy, the weather isn’t going to make you happy… You have to decide what you want, and you have to find that way of doing it, whether or not the outside circumstances are going to participate in your success… You have to be able to create your own happiness, period. And if you can’t, then you need to find a good shrink who can help you figure out what it’s going to take.”
Debbie Millman
“It is a great happiness to have what you desire; but it is an even greater happiness not to want more than you already have.”
Menedemus, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 156)
A Picture Of Happiness [Short Story]
![A Picture Of Happiness [Short Story]](https://movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Happiness.-930x620.jpeg)
Excerpt: The great Turkish poet, Nazim Hikmat, once asked his friend, Abidin Dino to draw a picture of happiness. The result might surprise you…
Read More »A Picture Of Happiness [Short Story]
“The happiness or unhappiness of a man does not depend upon the amount of property or gold he owns. Happiness or misery is in one’s soul. A wise man feels at home in every country. The whole universe is the home of a noble soul.”
Demoncritus, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 140)
“Many good opportunities are ruined for the dream of slightly better ones. Would you have a more successful career if you had taken that other job or moved cities? Possibly. But your actual career will definitely suffer if you don’t commit to doing it to the best of your ability. Would you be 10% happier in a different relationship? Maybe. Maybe not. But you’ll definitely be unhappy in the one you have if you spend all day thinking about what else is out there. The surefire way to end up worse off is to agonize over unchosen options and fail to make the most of the one you selected. Every minute spent yearning for your unlived lives is a moment you can’t invest in the one you actually have. Choices matter, but so does your level of commitment.”
James Clear, Blog
“they both know that they are not together to complete each other, that their happiness is their own to create. nevertheless, their ethereal bond serves a great purpose; it gives them the time and space to love each other well enough to release the tension of their unloved hearts. their love for one another is not the end but rather a means to an end. it is a humble tool of healing and nourishment that can strengthen their minds and make their spirits mighty, so that they may both travel as far within themselves as possible, so that they may both release all that limits the flow of their happiness, so that they may both swim freely in the waters of wisdom and universal understanding.”
Yung Pueblo, Inward (Page 207)
“to expect another to resolve all of our issues and give us the happiness we desire is to expect to see the sunrise without opening our own eyes. it is to ask a river to give us nourishment without dipping our own hands into the water. another cannot answer a riddle that was only ever meant for our own minds to solve. the universe seeks to enlighten and empower us, thus it is only rational that we are our own greatest healers.”
Yung Pueblo, Inward (Page 159)
“There’s more stimulation, more options and more noise than ever before. The problem is that boredom is a partner with satisfaction and joy. It’s hard to overstimulate ourselves into those feelings.”
Seth Godin, Blog