|
HAPPINESS
Time magazine reports that
34% of Americans consider themselves to be “very happy.” So, how do you
move from the 66% category to the 34% category? That’s difficult to say,
as “happiness” is largely an elusive, indefinable, subjective quality.
What is happiness?
Meriam-Webster online dictionary defines it as (1) a state of
well-being and contentment: joy; and (2) a pleasurable or satisfying
experience. Interestingly, an obsolete definition is “good fortune” or
“prosperity.” Happiness = prosperity! Exactly what we all suspected!
(But why is the definition obsolete?)
There
is some agreement to that last one:
It
isn't necessary to be rich and famous to be happy. It's only necessary
to be rich. –Alan Alda, American Actor
Happiness is a positive cash flow. –Fred Adler
Conversely…
Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life. –Marcus
Aurelius (121-80 AD, Roman Emperor, Philosopher)
Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells
in the soul. –Democritus (Greek Philosopher)
So, I guess you might
say:
It is
pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have
both failed. –Kin Hubbard (1868-1930, American Humorist)
But, really. What is happiness?
How do we attain it?
Three
grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do,
something to love, and something to hope for. –Joseph Addison
(1672-1719)
Happiness depends upon ourselves. –Aristotle
The
secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what
one does. –Sir James M. Barrie (1860-1937, British playwright)
Happiness is good health and a bad memory. –Ingrid Bergman (Swedish-born
actress)
Many
people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some
other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much
happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don't put off being
happy until some future date. –Dale Carnegie
Happiness is like manna; it is to be gathered in grains, and enjoyed
every day. It will not keep; it cannot be accumulated; nor have we got
to go out of ourselves or into remote places to gather it, since it has
rained down from a Heaven, at our very door. –Tryon Edwards (1809-1894,
American Theologian)
The man
who is born with a talent which he was meant to use finds his greatest
happiness in using it. –Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German
Poet)
Happiness is a by-product. You cannot pursue it by itself. –Samuel
Levenson
When we
recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things -- not
the great occasions -- that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of
happiness. –Bob Hope
Give, and it shall be
given…
Happiness is a perfume which you cannot pour on someone without getting
some on yourself. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
Happiness seems made to be shared. –Pierre Corneille (French Dramatist)
To have
joy one must share it. Happiness was born a twin. --Lord Byron
(1788-1882, British Poet)
Happiness is a hard thing because it is achieved only by making others
happy. –Stuart Cloete
Whoever
is happy will make others happy too. –Anne Frank
Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower. --Author
Unknown
Seek and you shall…not
find?
The
world's literature and folklore are full of stories that point out how
futile it can be to seek happiness. Rather, happiness is a blessing that
comes to you as you go along; a treasure that you incidentally find.
–Louis Binstock (American Minister)
If you
ever find happiness by hunting for it, you will find it as the old woman
did her lost spectacles. Safe on her own nose all the time. –Josh
Billings (1815-1885, American Humorist)
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 not attention to it and go about
your business, you'll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into
your lap. –William Bennett
It is
the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first.
The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be
full of purpose, aiming at something outside self. –Hugo Black
(1886-1971, American Supreme Court Judge)
Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness. –Chuang Tzu
(Chinese Philosopher)
Some of
us might find happiness if we quit struggling so desperately for it.
–William Feather
Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond
your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon
you. –Nathaniel Hawthorne (American Novelist)
The
search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness. –Eric
Hoffer (1902-1933, American Author)
A state of mind?
A
person will be just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
–Abraham Lincoln
A happy
person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a
person with a certain set of attitudes. –Hugh Downs (American Television
Host)
Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response. –Mildred
Barthel
To sum it up
The
biggest lie on the planet: When I get what I want, I will be happy.
--Unknown
The
really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery, even when they
have to take a detour. -- Sir James Jeans (1877-1946, British Scientist)
Happiness is not a state to arrive at, rather, a manner of traveling.
–Samuel Johnson (British Author)
If you
can't be happy where you are, it's a cinch you can't be happy where you
ain't. –Charles “Tremendous” Jones (American Motivational Speaker)
What does the Bible say?
Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've
learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just
as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found
the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands
empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in
the One who makes me who I am. --Apostle Paul,
Philippians 4:13
Sources:
Time, Feb. 27, 2006
http://www.cybernation.com/quotationcenter/
www.m-w.com
©
Copyright 2006 Suzanne Leitz |
