Famous Quotes about Happiness

I've had a great deal fun writing on these famous quotes about happiness lately as a bit of promotion for my new book on happiness, The Post-College Guide to Happiness. For some reason, we tend to gravitate toward the more famous quotes on happiness, because we believe that being famous has something to do with being happy. While I find that tough to swallow, I have no problem in indulging in the famous fascination by providing some quote explanations on this page.

Famous Quotes about Happiness

"You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation." 
- Bette Davis

You may think that you're unhappy because you don't like your job, your location or your partner. The truth is, you are unhappy because you expect that things will never get better for yourself. If you change your expectation by thinking about all the wonderful things you can still do in your life, you will be much happier because you have a passionate vision of the future.

"The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions". 
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Some mistakenly believe that they must reign in their passions and their dreams and live out the quiet life with a white picket fence in the suburbs. Those who are truly happy though, as Tennyson says in one of these famous quotes about happiness, are passionate about life because they choose to do things they want to do. They create goals for themselves that will eventually lead to a life of joy, as opposed to following the goals that others (like society) have laid out for them.

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." 
- Albert Schweitzer

Happiness has a lot to do with the direction of your life. It's about where you're headed, not necessarily where you are. You may think that you aren't successful because of your current circumstances. In actuality, most successful and happy people didn't start in that state. They had to find something they loved to do and create goals related to that purpose. The most successful people in the world chose something they loved to do, stuck with it long enough and turned it into a happy and fulfilling life.

Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service. 
- Henry Ford

Many people also seem to equate money with happiness, thinking that if you have it you'll be happy. These people go after money and happiness their entire lives and tend to find neither. As Ford is saying in one of these famous quotes about happiness, you choose instead to do what you love, you'll not only find money but happiness as well. The happiness won't come as a result of the money, however, it will come as a result of finding a service to provide to the world that you enjoy.

There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself. 
- Henry David Thoreau

Happiness comes when you value your own life. When you're a child you think of all these magical professions for yourself and you think of all the wild things you want in life. When we grow up, we tend to settle for whatever life sends our way. We need to get back to that childlike state of valuing the adventures we're going to have for ourselves. Give great value to your life, love yourself, love what you do and happiness will come in droves. 

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