March 20 is officially the International Day of Happiness. Somehow I missed the announcement, but in 2012 the General Assembly of the United Nations created this day to recognize “the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives.”
I’m all for celebrating and for happiness. With that in mind, I selected some of my favorite quotes on all things happiness.
“It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.” -Charles Spurgeon
“If you want to be happy, be.” -Leo Tolstoy
Happy people plan actions; they don’t plan results.” -Denis Waitley
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” -Marcus Aurelius
“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” -Aristotle
“Happiness . . . is governed by our mental attitude.” -Dale Carnegie
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” -Gandhi
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” -Oscar Wilde
“Learn to value yourself, which means fight for your happiness.” -Ayn Rand
“Happiness is a byproduct of making someone else happy.” -Gretta Brooker Palmer
“Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.” -Ogden Nash
“The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring.” -Carl Sandburg
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” -Abraham Lincoln
“Happiness is a large, close-knit family…in another city.” -George Burns
“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” -Albert Schweitzer
“Happiness depends more on how life strikes you than on what happens.” -Andy Rooney
“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” -John Barrymore
“Nobody cares if you’re miserable so you might as well be happy.” -Cynthia Nelms
“When what we are is what we want to be, that’s happiness.” -Malcolm Forbes
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” -Mark Twain
“My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.” -Michael J. Fox
“If one speaks with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.” -Buddha