Happiness

Happiness is the successful pursuit of an aim. Perfection is the grandest of aims, and the only one is which a continuous success is morally possible for all.
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger, The Solitudes of Nature and of Man, or, The Loneliness of Human Life (1867). Summary of the Subject

He who has no wish to be happier is the happiest of men.
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.
~ Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm-Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky)

Happiness is like a cat. If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you. It will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing up against your legs and jumping into your lap.
~ William Bennett

It is my hearty desire and prayer that every soul among us may live and be happy for ever; but that we can never be, unless we be serious, earnest, and constant in looking after it, more than after all things in the world besides.
~ (Lord Bishop) William Beveridge, in Private Thoughts Upon Religion, and a Christian Life (1816 edition). Part II. Thoughts Upon Striving to Enter at the Straight Gate

And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury.
~ William Blake, from Songs of Experience (1794). The Chimney Sweeper

Fun I love but too much Fun is of all things the most loathsom. Mirth is better than Fun & Happiness is better than Mirth -- I feel that a Man may be happy in This World.
~ William Blake, in The Letters of William Blake (1956). Letter to the Reverend John Trusler (23 August 1799)

I feel that a Man may be happy in This World. And I know that This World Is a World of Imagination & Vision.
~ William Blake, in The Letters of William Blake (1956). Letter to the Reverend John Trusler (23 August 1799)

Pity would be no more
If we did not make somebody poor;
And mercy no more could be
If all were as happy as we.
~ William Blake, from Songs of Experience (1794). The Human Abstract

[S]ome say that happiness is not good for mortals, and they ought to be answered that sorrow is not fit for immortals and is utterly useless to any one.
~ William Blake, Letter to William Henley (7 October 1803)

Those who want Happiness must stoop to find it; it is a flower that grows in every vale.
~ William Blake, from Poetical Sketches (1783). Contemplation

True religion ... is giving and finding one's happiness by bringing happiness into the lives of others.
~ William J.H. Boetcker

Happy if by the wise and learn'd belov'd,
But happiest above all if self-approv'd!
~ William Broome, Poems on Several Occasions (1727). A Poem on the Seat of War in Flanders, Chiefly with Relation to the Seiges: With the Praise of Peace and Retirement (1710)

To cheerful hopes and dreams of happy days.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1832 edition). The Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus

Your candour may offend knaves and your reticence mislead fools; but be happy in your goodness, and in the loving homage of those dearest to you.
~ Robert Williams Buchanan, in London Poems (1866). Dedication

Happiness is a byproduct of function. Those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war. This is the flaw of all utopias.
~ William S. Burroughs, The Place of Dead Roads (1983).

Virtue is simply happiness, and happiness is a by-product of function. You are happy when you are functioning.
~ William S. Burroughs, The Creative Observer (1992). Painting and Guns

Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand on the drill.
~ "Johnny" William Carson

One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the world's end somewhere, and holds fast to the days, as to fortune or fame.
~ Willa Sibert Cather (written on September 10, 1902), Willa Cather in Europe (1956).

[T]hat is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, My Ántonia (1918). Book I. The Shimerdas

Great effort from great motives is the best definition of a happy life.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Slavery (1835). Chapter IV. The Evils Of Slavery

Peace is the fairest form of happiness.
~ William Ellery Channing, in Dr. Channing's Note-book (1887). Peace

The happiness of life is more indebted to kindness than to intellect.
~ William Benton (W.B.) Clulow, Horæ otiosæ; or, Thoughts, Maxims, and Opinions (1833). Part IV. On Happiness

Happiness ought to be your great object, and it is to be found only in independence.
~ William Cobbett, Advice to Young Men: And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life (1829). Letter I: Advice to a Youth

[A] happy source Of wise reflection and well-timed discourse.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Conversation

Happiness depends, as Nature shows,
Less on exterior things than most suppose.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Table Talk (written in 1781)

He is the happy man, whose life even now
Shows somewhat of that happier life to come.
~ William Cowper, The Task (1785). Book VI. The Winter Walk At Noon

I see that all are wanderers, gone astray
Each in his own delusions; they are lost
In chase of fancied happiness, still woo'd
And never won.
~ William Cowper, The Task (1785). Book III. The Garden

How much of our happiness depends upon the thoughts which occupy our minds, and upon the suggestions which those thoughts gave rise to! And how much may be added to these, by social communication.
~ William Danby, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1831).

Happiness ... is not easily won; it is hard to find it in ourselves, and impossible to find it elsewhere.
~ William James "Will" Durant, The Mansions of Philosophy: A Survey Of Human Life And Destiny (1929).

O Paradise! O Paradise!
Who doth not crave for rest?
Who would not seek the happy land
Where they that love are blest?
~ Frederick William Faber, Paradise

Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious.
~ William Feather

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it.
~ William Feather

Some of us might find happiness if we would quit struggling so desperately for it.
~ William Feather

The happiest people are those who are too busy to notice whether or not they are or not.
~ William Feather

Happiness means quiet nerves.
~ W.C. Fields

Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one's powers and talents.
~ John William Gardner, Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too? (1961).

Sing Happy-go-lucky, my Lady, O!
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Princess Ida (1884 opera). Act II

Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won't have to hunt for happiness.
~ William Ewart Gladstone

How can any one have genuine happiness, unless in proportion as he looks round, and, "behold, every thing is very good?"
~ William Godwin, Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries (1831). Essay XIX. Of Self-Complacency

The happiness which brings enduring worth to life is not the superficial happiness that is dependent on circumstances. It is the happiness and contentment that fills the soul even in the midst of the most distressing circumstances and the most bitter environment. It is the kind of happiness that grins when things go wrong and smiles through the tears. The happiness for which our souls ache is one undisturbed by success or failure, one which will root deeply inside us and give inward relaxation, peace, and contentment, no matter what the surface problems may be. That kind of happiness stands in need of no outward stimulus.
~ Billy Graham

Happy are they who live in the dream of their own existence, and see all things in the light of their own minds; who walk by faith and hope; to whom the guiding star of their youth still shines from afar, and into whom the spirit of the world has not entered! They have not been "hurt by the archers", nor has the iron entered their souls. The world has no hand on them.
~ William Hazlitt, in Winterslow, Essays and Characters Written There (1850). Mind and Motive

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.
~ William Hazlitt, Table-Talk; or, Original Essays (1821-1822). Essay I. On The Pleasure Of Painting

To be happy, we must be true to nature, and carry our age along with us.
~ William Hazlitt

Happiness doesn't depend on what we have, but it does depend on how we feel toward what we have. We can be happy with little and miserable with much.
~ William Dempster Hoard

I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.
~ Wilhelm von Humboldt

On the whole, the happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except the fact that they are so.
~ William Ralph (Dean) Inge, from Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1926).

The union of political power with economic temptation has been the source of innumerable acts of injustice, and has been one of the greatest obstacles to human happiness.
~ William Ralph (Dean) Inge, from Outspoken Essays, Second Series (1922). The State, Visible and Invisible: The Greek City State

How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.
~ William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). Lectures IV and V: The Religion of Healthy Mindedness

I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.
~ William James

When happiness is actually in possession, the thought of evil can no more acquire the feeling of reality than the thought of good can gain reality when melancholy rules. To the man actively happy, from whatever cause, evil simply cannot then and there be believed in.
~ William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). Lectures IV and V: The Religion of Healthy Mindedness

There is a royal road to happiness; it lies in Consecration, Concentration, Conquest and Conscience.
~ William George Jordan, The Majesty of Calmness (1900). VII: The Royal Road to Happiness

True happiness must ever have the tinge of sorrow outlived, the sense of pain softened by the mellowing years, the chastening of loss that in the wondrous mystery of time transmutes our suffering into love and sympathy with others.
~ William George Jordan, The Majesty of Calmness (1900). VII: The Royal Road to Happiness

Unhappiness is the hunger to get; Happiness is the hunger to give. ... If the individual should set out for a single day to give happiness, to make life happier, brighter and sweeter, not for himself but for others, he would find a wondrous revelation of what happiness really is.
~ William George Jordan, The Majesty of Calmness (1900). VII: The Royal Road to Happiness

To live among friends is the primary essential of happiness.
~ Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) (at banquet in St. Andrew's Hall; 16 June 1896), quoted in Lord Kelvin, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow 1846-1899

No happiness is found but what is sought.
~ William King, The Art of Love: In Imitation of Ovid de Arte Amandi (1709). Part I.

Is happiness safe for any while to any happiness is denied?
~ William Lane, The Workingman's Paradise (1892).

One of the first and most clearly recognised rules to be observed is that happiness is most likely to be attained when it is not the direct object of pursuit.
~ William Edward Hartpole (E.H.) Lecky, The Map of Life: Conduct and Character (1899). Chapter III

I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things.
~ William John Locke, Simon the Jester (1909).

Happiness is the light shining on the water. The water is cold and dark and deep ...
~ William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., from Over by the River and Other Stories (1977).

All thought in him did fade
Into the bliss that knoweth not surprise.
~ William Morris, from The Earthly Paradise (1868-70). February: The Hill of Venus

For here if one need not work
is a place for happy rest,
While one's thought wends over the world
north, south, and east and west.
~ William Morris, from Poems by the Way (1891). The Half of Life Gone

[T]he true secret of happiness lies in the taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life, in elevating them by art instead of handing the performance of them over to unregarded drudges, and ignoring them ...
~ William Morris, Signs of Change (1888). The Aims of Art (1877).

Why should I ever have been so impatient for happiness? Why should I wish for more than I have now? Am I afraid of my share being given away? Cannot I wait awhile?
~ William Mountford, Euthanasy: Or, Happy Talk Towards the End of Life (1848). Chapter XXX

My formula for happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1888). Maxims and Arrows

Precisely the least, the softest, lightest, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a flash, a moment -- a little makes the way of the best happiness.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (1885).

Since I grew tired of the chase
And search, I learned to find;
And since the wind blows in my face,
I sail with every wind.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882). Prelude in German Rhymes (Joke, Cunning and Revenge)

What is happiness? The feeling that power increases, that resistance is overcome.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Antichrist (1888).

The ingredients of happiness are so simple that they can be counted on one hand. Happiness comes from within, and rests most securely on simple goodness and clear conscience. ... It cannot be bought; indeed money has very little to do with it.
~ William S. Ogdon, in the New York Times (30 December 1945). The Art of Happiness

[H]appiness lies in the absorption in some vocation which satisfies the soul.
~ William Osler, from Aequanimitas: With Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practioners of Medicine (1904). Doctor and Nurse (delivered at Johns Hopkins Hospital; 1891)

Happiness depends upon the prudent constitution of the habits.
~ William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785). Book I. Chapter 6: Human Happiness

It is a happy world after all. The air, the earth, the water, teem with delighted existence. In a spring noon, or a summer evening, on whichever side I turn my eyes, myriads of happy beings crowd upon my view.
~ William Paley, Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (1802). Chapter XXVI: The Goodness of the Deity

[T]he common course of things is in favour of happiness; that happiness is the rule; misery, the exception. Were the order reversed, our attention would be called to examples of health and competency, instead of diseases and want.
~ William Paley, Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (1802). Chapter XXVI: The Goodness of the Deity

The art in which the secret of human happiness in a great measure consists, is to set the habits in such a manner that every change may be a change for the better.
~ William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785). Book I. Chapter 6: Human Happiness

If thou wouldest be Happy, bring thy Mind to thy Condition, and have an Indifferency for more than what is sufficient.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Temporal Happiness

I'm easygoing. ... I can take a joke. I'm a nice guy. There's this guy on the team who's grumpy. And he'll be grumpy when he's old. But not me. When I'm old, I'll be fat and happy.
~ William ("The Refrigerator") Perry, Sports Illustrated magazine (4 November 1985). Monster Of The Midway

I have observed many cows, and there is in their beautiful eyes no perplexity; their serene faces betray no apprehension or alarm; they are never even bored. ... Well, since the daily life of an American cow is exactly the existence held up to us as ideal -- physical comfort with no pains and no worries, who wouldn't be a cow? Very few human beings would be willing to change into cows, which must mean only one thing. Life with all its sorrows, cares, perplexities, and heart-breaks, is more interesting than bovine placidity, hence more desirable. The more interesting it is, the happier it is. And the happiest person is he who thinks the most interesting thoughts.
~ William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps, Happiness (August 1927).

If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest individual would not be either a man or a woman. It would be, I think, an American cow.
~ William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps, Happiness (August 1927).

The principle of happiness should be like the principle of virtue; it should not be dependent on things, but be a part of personality.
~ William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps, Happiness (August 1927).

Happy are you, if it is your habit and privilege. You can offer it anywhere.
~ William Morley (W.M.) Punshon, Lecture Delivered Before the Young Men's Christian Association (17 January 1854). The Prophet of Horeb

Talk happiness, it is the shining star
That guides you all along your troubled way.
~ William J. Robinson, in The New York Times (27 March 1909). Dollar Premiums Put On Optimism

If I were now asked whom I consider to be the happiest of the human race, I should answer, those who cultivate the earth by their own hands.
~ William Roscoe, in The Life of William Roscoe (1833). Vol. I. Chapter I

The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.
~ William Saroyan, My Heart's in the Highlands (1939 play).

A smile recures the wounding of a frown.
~ William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis (1593).

But O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness from another man's eyes.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act V, scene ii

[F]rom the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, he is all mirth.
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing. Act III, scene ii

I count myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul remembering my good friends.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard II. Act II, scene iii

Merrily, merrily shall I live now,
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act V, scene i

Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere, wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation.
~ William H. Sheldon, Psychology and the Promethean Will (1936).

Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul.
~ William L. Shirer

I feel healthy! I feel happy! I feel terrific!
~ William (W.) Clement Stone, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude (1960).

Maybe that's the key to happiness -- being sort of dumb, not wanting to know any of the answers.
~ William Styron, Lie Down in Darkness (1951).

When every individual is made happy, the happiness of the whole is promoted.
~ William Thompson, Appeal of One-half of the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the Other Half, Men, to Retain Them in Political, and Thence in Civil and Domestic Slavery (1825).

Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life.
~ William E. "Bill" Vaughan (as Burton Hillis)

We thinke no greater blisse then such
To be as be we would,
When blessed none but such as be
The same as be they should.
~ William Warner, Albion's England. Book x. chap. lix. Stanza 68 (1586).

That's the difference between me and the rest of the world. Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!
~ Bill Watterson, from There's Treasure Everywhere: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection (1996; originally published 20 October 1993).

The secret to happiness is short-term, stupid self-interest.
~ Bill Watterson, from The Days are Just Packed: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection (1993; originally published 17 May 1992).

Happiness, the supreme good of man, the necessary object of action, is, if we consider it carefully, found to be the active exercise of the soul in the way of virtue.
~ William Whewell, from Lectures on Systematic Morality (1846). Lecture VI

Talk happiness. The world is sad enough
Without your woes. No path is wholly rough.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from Poems of Power (1901). Speech

The man who radiates good cheer, who makes life happier wherever he meets it, is always a man of vision and faith.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

You can pursue happiness by wearing a torn jersey. You can catch it by being good at something you love.
~ George F. Will

All the other rabbits came out to see how happy they both were, and they danced in a wedding circle around the little black rabbit and the little white rabbit. ... And so the two little rabbits were wed and lived together happily in the big forest, eating dandelions, playing. ... And the little black rabbit never looked sad again.
~ Garth Williams, The Rabbit's Wedding (1958).

I'm closer to being happy. I'm doing things that make me happy. In football I loved to practice and I loved to play, but I hated to be in meetings, hated to talk to the media, hated to have cameras in my face, hated to sign autographs. I hated to do all those things.
~ Ricky Williams, The San Francisco Chronicle (21 November 2004). NFL dropout Ricky Williams chilling in Sierra: He's been found studying the healing arts

When I am alone I am happy.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Sour Grapes (1921). Waiting

When I was young, I used to think that wealth and power would bring me happiness. ... I was right.
~ Gahan Wilson, The Weird World of Gahan Wilson (cartoon, 1975).

Happy is the soul that has something to look backward to with pride, and something to look forward to with hope.
~ Reverand Oliver G. Wilson

A smile is happiness you'll find right under your nose.
~ Tom Wilson, Ziggy

Happiness doesn't depend on how much you have to enjoy. ... But how much you enjoy what you have.
~ Tom Wilson, Ziggy

To make itself happy is a duty, which every being, in proportion to its capacity, owes to itself; and that, which every intelligent being may be supposed to aim at, in general.
~ William Wollaston, The Religion of Nature Delineated (1722).

A day it was when I could bear
To think, and think, and think again;
With so much happiness to spare,
I could not feel a pain.
~ William Wordsworth, from Lyrical Ballads (1798). Anecdote for Fathers

A man too happy for mortality!
~ William Wordsworth, The River Duddon, A Series of Sonnets; Vaudracour and Julia: and Other Poems (1820). Vaudracour and Julia

Happier of happy though I be, like them
I cannot take possession of the sky.
~ William Wordsworth, from The Recluse, Part I, Book I (published in 1888). Home at Grasmere (written c. 1800)

Happy is he who lives to understand,
Not human nature only, but explores
All natures, -- to the end that he may find
The law that governs each.
~ William Wordsworth, The Excursion (1814). Book IV: Despondency Corrected

Not in Utopia, -- subterranean fields, --
Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where!
But in the very world, which is the world
Of all of us, -- the place where in the end
We find our happiness, or not at all!
~ William Wordsworth, The Prelude (1850 edition). Book XI: France -- (Concluded)

Pleased rather with some soft ideal scene,
The work of Fancy, or some happy tone
Of meditation, slipping in between
The beauty coming and the beauty gone.
~ William Wordsworth, Yarrow Revisited and Other Poems (1835). Most sweet it is

She seemed as happy as a wave
That dances on the sea.
~ William Wordsworth, from Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems, Vol. 2 (1800). The Two April Mornings

With Nature never do they wage
A foolish strife; they see
A happy youth, and their old age
Is beautiful and free.
~ William Wordsworth, from Poems of Sentiment and Reflection (1800). The Fountain. A Conversion (written in 1799)

Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.
~ William Butler Yeats

We are happy when for everything inside us there is a corresponding something outside us.
~ William Butler Yeats, Letter to Dorothy Wellesley