Forget fame and fortune. Sure, they can make you happy on the surface…while they last at least. But if you want to live a truly blissful life, you have to dig a little deeper! These quotes below can help you discover the TRUE meaning of happiness. Keep reading to check them out!
These are Things That Bring Us TRUE Happiness!
I’m not going to say something as trite as “money can’t buy happiness.” There are a lot of people out there struggling who would say that while it can’t buy true happiness, knowing you can pay your rent and still have enough left over for food can definitely buy a bit of peace of mind.
So yeah, money can maybe buy a handful of happy moments. But it can’t buy TRUE “deep down to your toes” happiness. For that, you need to look beyond your bank account. I can’t tell you what will make you truly happy. Only YOU can decide that. But these quotes below are definitely a good place to begin your search. This time, they are in order. The headings tell a story. 😀
Happiness is about being grateful for what you have…
“Happiness is not about getting what you want all of the time. It’s about loving what you have and being grateful for it.”
You know what the Rolling Stones said, you can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. Be grateful when that happens!
…rather than chasing after a pot of gold
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien
Imagine how beautiful the world would be if we cared more about the beauty and wonder in a rainbow than we did about the pot of gold at the end of it.
It’s about having a big, beautiful heart…
“A beautiful heart can bring things into your life that all the money in the world can’t buy.”
As I’ve said so many times before, I’d rather raise kids with rich hearts than a rich bank account!
…and living life by your own rules!
“I don’t care what other people think of me. I enjoy my life with my own rules.”
Trust me, you’ll be A LOT happier if you stop caring so much about what everyone else thinks and just start living life for yourself.
Happiness isn’t about protecting yourself from sadness…
“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” ― Jonathan Safran Foer
Just like we can’t have dawn without dusk, or the moon without the sun, we can’t have happiness if we never know sadness.
…but avoiding toxic people definitely helps…
“I found the key to happiness. Surround yourself with animals and stay away from idiots.”
Just because we can’t protect ourselves from ever feeling sad doesn’t mean we should actively seek out misery by letting toxic people stay in our lives.
Happiness is knowing when to let go of anger.
“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
While anger is definitely sometimes justified, there comes a point where you have to let go of it. Either forgive the person who caused it or accept that they’re not meant to be in your life and move on.
It’s about laughing so hard that your stomach hurts…
“There’s nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.” ― Stephen Chbosky
True happiness is laughing so hard that you cry!
…and finding someone who truly loves you.
“All we really want is to be happy. To feel like we made the right choices and to be surrounded by people that make us smile. What we want is simple but hard to find- to be loved and appreciated. To have someone there when we need them most. That’s all any of us really want.”
It’s about finding the perfect small circle of friends who make you laugh and who always love you no matter what.
Happiness is about enjoying what you have
“Be happy with the little that you have. There are people with nothing that still manage to smile.”
This one is pretty self-explanatory!
It’s about learning as much from peace as we do from pain
“It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.” ― Chuck Palahniuk
This is one of my favorite quotes about happiness because it’s something that we don’t think about often. We always talk about how to learn from our mistakes and focus on the lesson instead of the pain. But you never really hear people talking about the lessons they learned from being happy.
Happiness about living in the here and now…
“If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.”― Roy T. Bennett
While memories can bring us joy, and thinking about the future may bring us excitement, true happiness comes from living in the here and now.
…and making your life into the best story ever
“Love your life. Take pictures of everything. Tell people you love them. Talk to random strangers. Do things that you’re scared to do. Many of us die and no one remembers a thing we did. Take your life and make it the best story in the world. Don’t waste it.”
Only you can write your story. Make it a truly epic one!
Happiness is traveling whenever and wherever you can!
“I want more road trips this year. More time spent at the ocean. More trips hiking up mountains. More time falling in love with the earth and laughing with people that make me feel at home.” -Nikki Lara
Travel as often as you can! You don’t even have to go far. Just get out into nature and discover all of the beauty that it has to offer.
Don’t think yourself out of happiness…
“I think and think and think, I‘ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.” ― Jonathan Safran Foer
If you think about it too long, you’ll think yourself right out of happiness. Stop overthinking everything. Just go for what brings you joy!
…and don’t spend your life searching for what it consists of
“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” ― Albert Camus
Don’t spend your entire existence searching for happiness and the meaning of life. Instead, focus on putting more meaning in YOUR life.
Instead, get out there and live!
“Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?” ― Hunter S. Thompson
If you cling to the shore for your entire life, you’ll never see much more than the beach. Sure, the beach is great and all (there’s really nothing like it). But there’s a whole great big world beyond the horizon.
…and when you find happiness, share it!
“Happiness is only real when shared” ― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
Perhaps the most important thing about happiness is that it’s meant to be shared!
More of My Favorite Happiness Quotes
Since I wanted to tell a story through the quotes above, I had to choose them very carefully. But they’re far from my only favorite happiness quotes! Here are a bunch more that will inspire you to live a more joyful life.
- “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” ―William James
- “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” —Aristotle
- “Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” —Winnie the Pooh
- “To be kind to all, to like many and love a few, to be needed and wanted by those we love, is certainly the nearest we can come to happiness.” —Mary Stuart
- “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
- “I’d far rather be happy than right any day.” —Douglas Adams
- “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” —Albert Schweitzer
- “The first recipe for happiness is: avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.” —Andre Maurois
- “If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your 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 world belongs to you.” —Lao Tzu
- “Tension is who you think you should be, relaxation is who you are.” —Chinese Proverb
- “True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” —Helen Keller
- “Happiness is a warm puppy.” ―Charles M. Schulz
- “Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.” —Carl Jung
- “A flower blossoms for its own joy.” ―Oscar Wilde
- “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 that has been opened for us.” —Helen Keller
- “The happiness of life is made up of the little charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- “So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?” ―Hunter S. Thompson
- “Just because you are happy it does not mean that the day is perfect but that you have looked beyond its imperfections” ―Bob Marley
- “I shall take the heart. For brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.” ―L. Frank Baum
- “The secret of a happy life is respect. Respect for yourself and respect for others.” ―Ayad Akhtar
- “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.” —Victor Hugo
- “Happiness is a risk. If you’re not a little scared, then you’re not doing it right.” ―Sarah Addison Allen
- “I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.”―
- “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will. ” ―Epictetus
- “Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.” ― Roy T. Bennett
- “It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.” ― Lucy Maud Montgomery
- “Happiness is holding someone in your arms and knowing you hold the whole world.” ―
- “It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” ― Dale Carnegie
- “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.” ― Mark Twain
- “They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” ― Tom Bodett
- “I’m choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I’m making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.” ―Elizabeth Gilbert
- “Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.” ―Martin Luther King Jr.
- “You have to be willing to get happy about nothing.” ―Andy Warhol
- “It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.”― Chuck Palahniuk
- “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” ― Abraham Lincoln
- “Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to. As your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.” —Shonda Rhimes
I hope these quotes about what it truly means to be happy helped inspire you as much as they did me. I think the key takeaway, though, is that happiness doesn’t come from things. It comes from spending time with the people who matter most, embracing ourselves quirks and all, and just really getting out there and living the best life possible.
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