This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more then they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years." - Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
"The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties, and the fullest realization of the world in which we live." - Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
"True happiness for human beings is possible only to those who develop their godlike potentialities to the utmost." - Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
"Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the long run, and for most men this comes chiefly through their work." - Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
"Among those who are purified by their goo deeds there are four kinds of men who worship Me: the world-weary, the seeker for knowledge, the seeker for happiness and the man of spiritual discrimination. The man of discrimination is the highest of these. He is continually united with Me. He devotes himself to Me always, and to no other. For I am very dear to that man, and he to Me." - Bhagavad Gītā, simply known as Gita NULL
"What is the most perfect happiness? Staying at home." - Bhartrihari NULL
"We have so exalted a notion of the human soul that we cannot bear to be despised, or even not to be esteemed by it. Man, in fact, places all his happiness in his esteem." - Blaise Pascal
"We have so exalted a notion of the human soul that we cannot bear to be despised by it, or even not to be esteemed by it. Man, in fact, places all his happiness in this esteem." - Blaise Pascal
"It is an exquisite and beautiful thing in our nature, that, when the heart is touched and softened by some tranquil happiness or affectionate feeling, the memory of the dead comes over it most powerfully and irresistibly. It would seem almost as though our better thoughts and sympathies were charms, in virtue of which the soul is enabled to hold some vague and mysterious intercourse with the spirits of those whom we loved in life. Alas! how often and how long may these patient angels hover around us, watching for the spell which is so soon forgotten!" - Charles Dickens, fully Charles John Huffam Dickens
"Good temper is the most contented, the most comfortable state of the soul; the greatest happiness both for those who possess it, and for those who feel its influence. With "gentleness" in his own character, "comfort" in his house, and "good temper" in his wife, the earthly felicity of man is complete... Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are more bitter than to feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victim." - Charles Buxton
"There is this difference between happiness and wisdom; that those that think of themselves as the happiest person, really is so; but they that think themselves the wisest, are generally the greatest fool." - Charles Caleb Colton
"Anguish of mind has driven thousands to suicide; anguish of body, none. This proves that the health of the mind is of far more consequence to our happiness than the health of the body, although both are deserving of much more attention than either receives." - Charles Caleb Colton
"He that sympathizes in all the happiness of others, perhaps himself enjoys the safest happiness; and he that is warned by the folly of others has perhaps attained the soundest wisdom." - Charles Caleb Colton
"He that will not permit his wealth to do any good to others while he is living, prevents it from doing any good to himself when he is dead; and by an egotism that is suicidal and has a double edge, cuts himself from the truest pleasure here and the highest happiness hereafter." - Charles Caleb Colton
"If sensuality be our only happiness, we ought to envy the brutes; for instinct is a surer, shorter, safer guide to such happiness than reason." - Charles Caleb Colton
"The celebrated Galen said that employment was nature's physician. It is indeed so important to happiness that indolence is justly considered the parent of misery." - Charles Caleb Colton
"The consideration of the small addition often made by wealth to the happiness of the possessor may check the desire and prevent the insatiability which sometimes attends it... Gross and vulgar minds will always pay a higher respect to wealth than to talent; for wealth, although it be a far less efficient source of power than talent, happens to be far more intelligible." - Charles Caleb Colton
"The man who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he proposes to remove." - Charles Caleb Colton
"There is this difference between happiness and wisdom, that he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he who thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool." - Charles Caleb Colton
"To be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him who begs his daily bread." - Charles Caleb Colton
"Happiness consists in being perfectly satisfied with what we have got and with what we haven't got... It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
"Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness." - Charlotte Brontë
"The happiness of ordinary persons seems to me to consist in slavishly following the majority, as if they could not help it." - Chuang Tzu, also spelled Chuang-tsze, Chuang Chou, Zhuangzi, Zhuang Tze, Zhuang Zhou, Chuang Tsu, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse, or Chuangtze
"In death, there are no rulers above and no subjects below. The course of the four seasons is unknown; our life is eternal. Even a king among men can experience no greater happiness than is ours… If I could restore your body to you, renew your bones and your flesh and take you back to your parents, your wife, and children and old friends, would you not gladly accept my offers?… Why should I throw away a happiness greater than a king’s to once again thrust myself into the troubles and anxieties of mankind?" - Chuang Tzu, also spelled Chuang-tsze, Chuang Chou, Zhuangzi, Zhuang Tze, Zhuang Zhou, Chuang Tsu, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse, or Chuangtze
"Perfect happiness is the absence of happiness; perfect glory is the absence of glory." - Chuang Tzu, also spelled Chuang-tsze, Chuang Chou, Zhuangzi, Zhuang Tze, Zhuang Zhou, Chuang Tsu, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse, or Chuangtze
"When I look at what the world does and where people nowadays believe they can find happiness, I am not sure that that is true happiness. The happiness of these ordinary people seems to consist in slavishly imitating the majority, as if this were their only choice. And yet they all believe they are happy. I cannot decide whether that is happiness or not. Is there such a thing as happiness?" - Chuang Tzu, also spelled Chuang-tsze, Chuang Chou, Zhuangzi, Zhuang Tze, Zhuang Zhou, Chuang Tsu, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse, or Chuangtze
"My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it." - Chuang Tzu, also spelled Chuang-tsze, Chuang Chou, Zhuangzi, Zhuang Tze, Zhuang Zhou, Chuang Tsu, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse, or Chuangtze
"The best way to attain happiness is not to seek it." - Claude Montefiore, fully Claude Joseph Goldsmid "C.G." Montefiore
"What is God-given is called nature; to follow nature is called Tao (the Way); to cultivate the way is called culture. Before joy, anger, sadness and happiness are expressed, they are called the inner self; when they are expressed to the proper degree, they are called harmony. The inner self is the correct foundation of the world, and the harmony is the illustrious Way. When a man has achieved the inner self and harmony, the heaven and earth are orderly and the myriad of things are nourished and grow thereby." - Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL
"The chooser’s happiness lies in his congruence with the chosen, the peace of iron-filings, obedient to the forces of the magnetic field. Calm is the soul that is emptied of all self, in a restful harmony. This happiness is here and now, in the eternal moment of co-inherence. A happiness within you - but not yours." - Dag Hammarskjöld
"Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"If we can't have all we want, let us not poison our days with worry and resentment. Let us be good to ourselves. Let us be philosophical. And philosophy, according to Epictecal, boils down to this: "The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things."" - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"If you want to be happy, set yourself a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes. Happiness is within you. It comes from doing some certain thing into which you can put all your thought and energy. If you want to be happy, get enthusiastic about something." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don't put off being happy until some future date." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely upon what you think. So start each day by thinking of all the things you have to be thankful for. Your future will depend very largely on the thoughts you think today. So think thoughts of hope and confidence and love and success." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"Strange that we so seldom recognize happiness until it has passed, that we rarely recognize it when it is on our doorstep." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"The chief thing you are seeking in this world is happiness; and happiness does not depend upon good health or money or fame, though good health is a large factor. It depends, however, principally on one thing only, your thoughts. If you can't have what you want, be grateful for what you have to be thankful for instead of complaining about the little things that annoy you." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"When ill luck besets us, to ease the tension we have only to remember that happiness is relative. The next time you are tempted to grumble about what has happened to you, why not pause and be glad that it is no worse than it is." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely and discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime" - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"Remember happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely upon what you think." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
"Even though a high IQ is no guarantee of prosperity, prestige, or happiness in life, our schools and our culture fixate on academic abilities, ignoring the emotional intelligence that also matters immensely for our personal destiny." - Daniel Goleman
"It is godlike ever to think on something beautiful and on something new... Happiness does not reside in strength or money; it lies in rightness and manysideedness... Cheerfulness, and often Confidence, that is a mind devoid of fear, the highest good." - Democritus NULL
"Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul." - Democritus NULL
"Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers gardens." - Douglas William Jerrold
"Before we passionately desire anything which another enjoys, we should examine into the happiness of its possessor." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
"The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
"The passions of youth are scarcely worse foes to happiness than the apathy of old age." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
"Our happiness in this world depends on the affections we are enabled to inspire." - Duchesse De Praslin, Fanny Sebastiani