Without life's ups and downs, the good, the bad, the ebb, the flow – we wouldn't know what happiness is.

Happiness means different things to different people. I'm sure we all know of folk striving for the bigger car, the bigger house, the bigger salary and yet they are forever moaning and still just as miserable, even surrounded by all their gains.
We may also know of folk who are as materially poor as church mice but are as content and as happy as Larry! So we know it's not about the "stuff" we physically accumulate, it's more about our state of mind and our outlook; about a sense of peace, and love and gratitude in our hearts.
Although it would be lovely, we are not always jumping for joy every day. There is as much to learn from the times we are unhappy as from the times we are jumping for joy. And yes, even though it's often in the dark times we learn the most, here are 50 inspiring and motivational quotes to help you on your way to brighten your inner world.
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.

Author

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.

16th U.S. President
Happiness is not something that you get in life. Happiness is something that you bring to life.

Writer
I think happiness is what makes you pretty. Period. Happy people are beautiful. They become like a mirror and they reflect that happiness.

Actress
The best way to pursue happiness is to help other people. Nothing else will make you happier.

Film Director

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Fabulist
Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.

Writer
I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.

Comedian
It’s never too late – never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.

Film Actress
Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.

Philospher

To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.

Author
I have very few friends. I have a handful of close friends and I have my family and I haven’t known life to be any happier.

Actor
Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.

Novelist
The word happiness would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

Psychiatrist
Be happy, but never satisfied.

Actor

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.

Diarist & Writer
God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.

Novelist
Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.

Writer
A day without laughter is a day wasted.

Actor
Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

Buddhist

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

Greek Philospher
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

Philosopher
Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.

Writer
The journey is what brings us happiness not the destination.

Author
Research has shown that the best way to be happy is to make each day happy.

Author
Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.

Writer

The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.

Actress
I’d far rather be happy than right any day.

Writer
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.

Former First Lady of the United States
There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying things which are beyond the power of our will.

Philosopher
Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

32nd U.S. President
We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognising and appreciating what we do have.

Inventor
Happy he who learns to bear what he cannot change.

Poet

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

Polititian
Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.

Novelist
Give a man health and a course to steer, and he'll never stop to trouble about whether he's happy or not.

Playwright
Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.

Comedian
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.

Author

Happiness comes when you believe in what you are doing, know what you are doing, and love what you are doing.

Author
Happiness is a how; not a what. A talent, not an object.

Poet
Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.

Happiness is not doing what you want but wanting what you do.

Philospher
May all beings, everywhere, be happy and free. And may the thoughts and actions of my own life contribute, in some way, to that happiness and to that freedom for all.


There were two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations.

Author
Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.

Actor
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.

Muscian
I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than attempting to satisfy them.

Philosopher
It’s a helluva start, being able to recognise what makes you happy.

Comedienne
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Lawyer
The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.

Author
Happiness is there for the taking and making.

Media Proprietor

The more rules you have about how people have to be, how life has to be for you to be happy, the less happy you’re going to be.

Life Coach
I have decided to be happy, because it’s good for my health.

Writer
Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.

Educator
Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

Psychiatrist
Our notions about happiness entrap us. We forget that they are just ideas. Our idea of happiness can prevent us from actually being happy. We fail to see the opportunity for joy that is right in front of us when we are caught in a belief that happiness should take a particular form.

Monk
How to be happy: Be accepting and at peace with the past, be engaged in the present, be excited and anticipating for the future.

Author
Happiness happens when you fit with your life, when you fit so harmoniously that whatsoever you are doing is your joy. Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.

Author
So take a moment to reflect on these 50 Happiness Quotes. Note how you feel when you give rather than get, love rather than hate and forgive rather than resent.
Take a moment every day to count your blessings. By practising acceptance and gratitude, we can create our own sense of serenity, harmony, balance and peace. And our own world of happiness.
