The Quotable Happiness

By Jovian Press

Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. There has been a transition over time from emphasis on the happiness of virtue to the virtue of happiness.
A widely discussed political value expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the universal right to "the pursuit of happiness." This seems to suggest a subjective interpretation but one that nonetheless goes beyond emotions alone. In fact, this discussion is often based on the naive assumption that the word happiness meant the same thing in 1776 as it does today, an error committed even by history professors such as Arthur Schlesinger. In fact, happiness meant "prosperity, thriving, wellbeing" in the 18th century.
Nowadays, happiness is a fuzzy concept and can mean many different things to many people. Part of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different concepts of happiness, and where applicable, split them into their components. Related concepts are well-being, quality of life and flourishing. At least one author defines happiness as contentment. Some commentators focus on the difference between the hedonistic tradition of seeking pleasant and avoiding unpleasant experiences, and the eudaimonic tradition of living life in a full and deeply satisfying way…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jovian Press
• Release date: Dec 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781537811475

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THE QUOTABLE HAPPINESS

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Various

JOVIAN PRESS

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Copyright © 2016 by Various

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Edited by Lars Blackmore

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Quotable Happiness

THE QUOTABLE HAPPINESS

..................

Edited by Lars Blackmore

Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. There has been a transition over time from emphasis on the happiness of virtue to the virtue of happiness.

A widely discussed political value expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the universal right to the pursuit of happiness. This seems to suggest a subjective interpretation but one that nonetheless goes beyond emotions alone. In fact, this discussion is often based on the naive assumption that the word happiness meant the same thing in 1776 as it does today, an error committed even by history professors such as Arthur Schlesinger. In fact, happiness meant prosperity, thriving, wellbeing in the 18th century.

Nowadays, happiness is a fuzzy concept and can mean many different things to many people. Part of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different concepts of happiness, and where applicable, split them into their components. Related concepts are well-being, quality of life and flourishing. At least one author defines happiness as contentment. Some commentators focus on the difference between the hedonistic tradition of seeking pleasant and avoiding unpleasant experiences, and the eudaimonic tradition of living life in a full and deeply satisfying way…

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

– Dr. Seuss

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

– Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.

– Abraham Lincoln

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

– Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married

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, Diary

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

– Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden

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

– Mahatma Gandhi

"The Seven Social Sins are:

Wealth without work.

Pleasure without conscience.

Knowledge without character.

Commerce without morality.

Science without humanity.

Worship without sacrifice.

Politics without principle."

From a sermon given by Frederick Lewis Donaldson in Westminster Abbey, London, on March 20, 1925."

– Frederick Lewis Donaldson

There’s nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.

– Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

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

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

– Dalai Lama XIV

Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.

– John Lennon

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.

"Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing

can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity

to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel

that there is something in them

To look at the sunny side of everything

and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,

and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others

as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past

and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times

and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself

that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,

and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,

not in loud words but great deeds.

To live in faith that the whole world is on your side

so long as you are true to the best that is in you."

– Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

– J.R.R. Tolkien

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

– Audrey Hepburn

Happiness is a warm puppy.

– Charles M. Schulz

You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.

– Jonathan Safran Foer

"They say a person needs just three things to be truly