Famous Quotes & Sayings

Henrik Ibsen

Happiness is above all things the calm, glad certainty of innocence.

Henri Matisse

If people knew what Matisse, supposedly the painter of happiness, had gone through, the anguish and tragedy he had to overcome to manage to capture that light which has never left him, if people knew all that, they would also realize that this happiness, this light, this dispassionate wisdom which seems to be mine, are sometimes well-deserved, given the severity of my trials.

Henri Nouwen

In 1970 I felt so lonely that I could not give; now I feel so joyful that giving seems easy. I hope that the day will come when the memory of my present joy will give me the strength to keep giving even when loneliness gnaws at my heart.

Herodotus

Call no man happy before he dies.

Henry Ford

There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.

Henry Ford

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

Heinrich Heine

I have smelt all the aromas there are in the fragrant kitchen they call Earth; and what we can enjoy in this life, I surely have enjoyed just like a lord!

Heraclitus

Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.

Heraclitus

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.

Henry Ward Beecher

Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either.

Henry Ward Beecher

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.

Henry Ward Beecher

Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it.

Henry Ward Beecher

In this world, full often, our joys are only the tender shadows which our sorrows cast.

Henry Ward Beecher

He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.

Henry Ward Beecher

Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.

Henry Ward Beecher

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.

Henry Ward Beecher

Blessed are the happiness makers. Blessed are they who know how to shine on one's gloom with their cheer.

Henry Ward Beecher

Your greatest pleasure is that which rebounds from hearts that you have made glad.

Henry Ward Beecher

Blessed are the happiness-makers! Blessed are they that take away attritions, that remove friction, that make the courses of life smooth, and the intercourse of men gentle!

Henry Ward Beecher

Joy is more divine than sorrow, for joy is bread and sorrow is medicine.

Henry Ward Beecher

It's not work that kills [people], it is worry.

Henry James

True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self; but the point is not only to get out - you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand.

Henry Fielding

Scarcely one person in a thousand is capable of tasting the happiness of others.

Joseph Hall

God loves to see his creatures happy; our lawful delight is His; they know not God that think to please Him with making themselves miserable. The idolaters thought it a fit service for Baal to cut and lance themselves; never any holy man looked for thanks from the true God by wronging himself.

Judith Viorst

Close friends contribute to our personal growth. They also contribute to our personal pleasure, making the music sound sweeter, the wine taste richer, the laughter ring louder because they are there.

Joseph Conrad

It is very difficult to be wholly joyous or wholly sad on this earth. The comic, when he is human, soon takes upon itself the face of pain.

Joseph Conrad

Happiness, happiness ... the flavor is with you-with you alone, and you can make it as intoxicating as you please.

Joseph Franklin Rutherford

If you are kept in ignorance of the true way and permit yourself to rely upon and be guided by the opinion of imperfect man, you can never gain the riches that will bring you peace and lasting happiness.

Joseph Butler

The sum of the whole is plainly this: The nature of man considered in his single capacity, and with respect only to the present world, is adapted and leads him to attain the greatest happiness he can for himself in the present world.

Joseph Butler

The satisfaction that accompanies good acts is itself not the motivation of the act; satisfaction is not the motive, but only the consequence.

Kate Millett

The concept of romantic love affords a means of emotional manipulation which the male is free to exploit, since love is the only circumstance in which the female is (ideologically) pardoned for sexual activity.

Langston Hughes

Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it.

Madame de Stael

Be happy, but be happy through piety.