Considering the topic of my blog, quotes on happiness tend to stand out for me. I found one of these last week while reading Delirium, which I really liked. The book is about a society where they’ve found a cure for love—and it’s mandatory. It’s illegal to fall in love. Even parents don’t really love their children. If a child gets hurt, their parents tell them to get up—if they respond at all. A mother mentions that her child had pneumonia for two weeks as if she was reporting an appliance breaking down. (Dude, if I didn’t love my kids, I’d be ANGRY I had to take care of them when they were sick. But the Cure takes care of that, too.)
The main character and her best friend are coming up on their turn for the procedure. As they go in for their pre-procedure evaluations, the friend turns to the main character and says, “You can’t be really happy unless you’re unhappy sometimes. You know that, right?”
The main character thinks her friend has kinda lost it, but by the end of the book, she knows that her friend was right.
The other happiness quote I’ve come across this week was on a friend’s blog:
“Everybody in the world is seeking happiness – and there is one sure way to find it. That is by controlling your thoughts. Happiness doesn’t depend on outward conditions. It depends on inner conditions.” – Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People via Clarissa Draper.
Love it!
What are your favorite quotes about happiness?
Photo by Peyri Herrera
3 replies on “What is happiness?”
I’ve been gathering some just this week. President Faust has an awesome talk about happiness.
He said, “The many hours I have spent listening to the tribulations of men and women have persuaded me that both happiness and unhappiness are much of our own making.”
Prophet Joseph Smith said, “Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of Godâ€
There are lots of other goodies in there too!
I like those! Your quote from Joseph Smith reminds me of a conversation I had with one of our uncles who shall remain nameless (but he’s the only uncle of ours I’ve seen in like a year), wherein he said that we are not promised happiness in this life. I’m pretty sure the scripture isn’t “Men are that they might have really crappy Earth lives and then have joy.”
Here’s some of my favs:
“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed.” -Gordon B. Hinckley quoting someone I can’t remember…
“People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” -Abraham Lincoln
“It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.”
-Thomas Jefferson
And I just found this one while looking up the exact wording of the previous two (all on the same web page!)-
“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”
-Marcus Aurelius