This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"Life is a journey, not a destination, and happiness is not “there” but here; not tomorrow, but today." - Sidney Greenberg
"Desire is fueled by the illusion of lack and that the source of happiness is outside oneself and therefore has to be pursued or acquired." - David R. Hawkins, fully David Ramon Hawkins
"The common element of most fears is that they are based on the illusion that happiness is dependent on externals and therefore vulnerable… Cessation of fear is the result of learning that the source of happiness and joy is from within. It stems from recognizing that its source is the joy of one’s own existence, which is continuous and not dependent on externals. This results from surrendering expectations and demands on one’s self, the world, and others. The thought “I can only be happy if I win or get what I want” is a guarantee of worry, anxiety, and unhappiness." - David R. Hawkins, fully David Ramon Hawkins
"The secret of happiness is only a few words; yet we will not accept it from anyone, but must learn it from a lifetime of experience, when it is far too late." - Mohammad Ḥejāzi, Moḥammad Moṭiʿ-Al-Dawla
"How can true happiness proceed from wealth, which in its acquisition causes pain; ;in loss, affliction; in abundance, folly." - Hitopadesa, translated means Book of Good Counsels NULL
"The ancients sought for happiness in virtue; the moderns have too long been endeavoring to develop the latter from the former." - Wilhelm von Humboldt, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt
"The most characteristic of all the elements of conversion crisis… is the ecstasy of happiness produced." - William James
"To receive and to communicate assistance, constitutes the happiness of human life: man may indeed preserve his existence in solitude, but can enjoy it only in society." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
"He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief which he proposes to remove." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
"Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords; but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
"The fountain of contentment must spring up in the mind. He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief which he proposes to remove." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." - Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller
"Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness: which is more valuable? Success or failure: which is more destructive? If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be truly fulfilled. If you happiness depends on money you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." - Lao Tzu, ne Li Urh, also Laotse, Lao Tse, Lao Tse, Lao Zi, Laozi, Lao Zi, La-tsze
"It is a man’s proper business to seek happiness and avoid misery." - John Locke
"That government is or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of mal-administration, and that whenever any government shall be found inadequate, or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the weal." - George Mason
"Happiness comes from the fulfillment of our physical, mental, and spiritual needs. It comes from the virtues and of being useful to others. It comes from forgiveness, charity, and all the noble acts that activate peace of mind and trigger joy. Happiness is not a commercial commodity available for buying or selling." - Bibhuti Mazumder
"If you pursue happiness as the ultimate goal of your living, you will be drifting away from happiness and your real being. Happiness is not a transcendental state of mind that is very difficult to have. It is the joyful expression of enlightened mind and is born of unconditional love." - Bibhuti Mazumder
"Your are what you are thinking. Happiness is a by-product of this endeavor." - Bibhuti Mazumder
"Learning to live deliberately and with confidence as well as knowing how to love one’s self and to be consistently happy – although not always easy – are fundamental to happiness and fulfillment." - Jason A. Merchey
"A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found: for a happiness that is diminished by being shared is not big enough to make us happy… True happiness is found in unselfish love, a love which increases in proportion as it is shared." - Thomas Merton
"There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God." - Thomas Merton
"True happiness is not found in any other reward than that of being united with God." - Thomas Merton
"Formula of my happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal." - Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
"That cold, still statistic of profit and loss is a statement about someone’s happiness and someone else’s pain." - Carl Ogelsby
"“The happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts.” This definition places happiness where it belongs - within and not without. The principle of happiness should be like the principle of virtue: it should not be dependent upon things, but be a part of personality." - William Lyon Phelps
"All those who labor in the discovery and communication of truth, if they are actuated by a love of it and a sense of its importance to the happiness of mankind may consider themselves as workers together with God." - Joseph Priestley
"Human happiness does not consist in satisfying one’s personal wishes but in the certainty of being needed, in having the visions of goals still unattained." - Fritz A. Rothschild
"Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder." - Fritz A. Rothschild
"One is happy as a result of one's own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness - simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial top a point, love of work, and above all a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain." - George Sand, pen name for Amandine Lucte Aurore Dupin, Baronne Dudevant
"Eager to escape sorrow, men rush into sorrow; from desire of happiness they blindly slay their own happiness, enemies to themselves." - Shantideva NULL
"The whole earth cannot satisfy the lust of the flesh; who can do its will? To him who longs for the impossible come guilt and bafflement of desire; but he who is utterly without desire has a happiness that ages not." - Shantideva NULL
"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
"The soul is master of every kind of fortune: itself acts in both ways, being the cause of its own happiness and misery." - Seneca the Younger, aka Seneca or Lucius Annaeus Seneca NULL
"Only a goal that transcends the self and reaches beyond this world can create a true state of happiness in a person." - Ezriel Tauber
"There is a difference between happiness and enjoyment. Happiness is the result of pursuing a goal. Pursuit of the goal generates an energizing sense of purpose. Enjoyment, on the other hand, is an immediate sensation of pleasure; a person can enjoy a piece of cake, a piece of art, a good joke – it gives pleasure but then passes." - Ezriel Tauber
"Torah obligates us to serve God joyfully. Happiness is a function of knowledge." - Ezriel Tauber
"True happiness results from the awareness of converting every moment into a fulfillment of the ultimate purpose." - Ezriel Tauber
"When enjoying life becomes the goal, it ceases producing happiness because the minute you get it you become dissatisfied. The booming entertainment industry is a symptom of a society dedicated toward tranquilizing its members with a lifetime of enjoyments." - Ezriel Tauber
"The goal itself cannot be the meaning. It might be a potential cause or source of meaning… the cause of happiness is not what happiness consists in." - Garrett Thomson
"Joy has something within itself which is beyond joy and sorrow. This something is called blessedness... It preserves in itself its opposite, sorrow. It provides the foundation for happiness and pleasure. It is present in all levels of man’s striving for fulfillment. It consecrates and directs them. It does not diminish or weaken them. It does not take away the risks and dangers of the joy of life. It makes the joy of life possible in pleasure and pain, in happiness and unhappiness, in ecstasy and sorrow. Where there is joy, there is fulfillment. And where there is fulfillment, there is joy. In fulfillment and joy the inner aim of life, the meaning of creation, and the end of salvation, are attained." -
"The Master responds to falsehood and truth, bad news and good news, inexactly the same way: “Is that so?” He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama. To him there is only this moment, and this moment is as it is. Events are not personalized. He is nobody’s victim. He is so completely at one with what happens that what happens has no power over him anymore. Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness." - Eckhart Tolle, born Ulrich Leonard Tolle
"People find happiness both in wisdom and folly, virtue and vice. Contentment is no index of true worth." - Vauvenargues, Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues NULL