The following inspiring quotes on happiness were written by a variety of well-known teachers and inspiring figures throughout the world . . .

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Paramhansa Yogananda:
How to Be Happy

Paramhansa Yogananda Happiness Quotes:

The following quotes on happiness come from the book: How to Be Happy All the Time by Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the best-selling spiritual classic, and inspiration for the Finding Happiness movie, Autobiography of a Yogi.

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  • “Be ever happy inside. You can’t change things outside of you, but you can change yourself.”
  • “There are no obstacles: There are only opportunities!”
  • “There is no greater power than to smile at failure, no more beautiful an ornament to your being than a genuine smile, and no beauty greater than the smile of peace and wisdom glowing on your face.”
  • “Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself.”
  • “Forget the past, for it is gone from your domain! Forget the future, for it is beyond your reach! Control the present! Live supremely well now! This is the way of the wise.”
  • “Accept change as life’s only constant. Life is change.”
  • “Never lose hope. Your soul, being a reflection of the ever joyous spirit, is, in essence, happiness itself.”
  • “Lasting happiness is of the soul.”
  • “Happiness blooms naturally in the hearts of those who are inwardly free. It flows spontaneously, like a mountain spring after April showers, in minds that are contented with simple living.”
  • “Try to do one thing at a time that you thought impossible to do.”
  • “All things in future will improve if you make the spiritual effort now.”
  • “Happiness comes, not by helplessly wishing for it, but by dreaming, thinking and living it in all circumstances.”
  • “Learn to be secretly happy within your heart in spite of all circumstances, and say to yourself: Happiness is the greatest Divine birthright – the buried treasure of my Soul. I have found that at last I shall secretly be rich beyond the dream of Kings.”
  • “Although it is necessary to make money, it is more necessary to gain happiness.”
  • “Learn to be happy by being happy all the time.”
  • “Avoid speaking negative things. If we concentrate on the bad side, we lose sight of the good. When we concentrate on the good. We take on goodness.”
  • “Even if life gave you at one time everything you wanted – wealth, power, friends — after awhile you would again become dissatisfied and need something more.  But there is one thing that can never become stale to you – joy itself.”
  • “In all your seeking among different things, directly or indirectly, you are in reality seeking happiness through the fulfillment of your desires. Why not seek joy directly? Why seek it through the intermediary of pleasures and objects?”
  • “If you have given up hope of ever being happy, cheer up. Never lose hope. Your soul, being a reflection of the ever joyous Spirit, is, in essence, happiness itself.”
  • “If it is happiness you want, have it! There is nothing that can stop you.”
  • The self-improving man is the increasingly happy man. The happier you become, the happier will be the people around you.”
  • “Happiness lies in making others happy, in forsaking self-interest to bring joy to others.”
  • “If you do not choose to be happy, no one can make you happy. And if you choose to be happy, no one can make you unhappy.”
  • “The best way to be unendingly happy is to be conscious of the Divine.”

 

Swami Kriyananda Happiness Quotes:

A selection of happiness quotes by Swami Kriyananda (founder of the spiritual communities depicted in the film), from the companion book: Finding Happiness- Day by Day and talks by Swami Kriyananda on behalf of Treasures Along the Path.

  • “Don’t live to be unhappy, live to be happy. If you live to be happy you’ll find the things that make you happy. And as you do that you find that sharing with others makes you much happier than taking from them.”
  • “Happiness is a smile of comfort to the sorrowful.”
  • “Happiness is reverence for all life.”
  • “Happiness is NOW! It isn’t tomorrow. It isn’t yesterday. Happiness is like a morning glory: Yesterday’s won’t bloom again; tomorrow’s hasn’t opened yet. Only today’s flower can be enjoyed today. Be happy this very moment, and you’ll learn how to be happy always.”
  • “If you want to do one good thing in the world, the best thing you can do is give other people joy.”
  • “Joy is not dependent upon outward circumstances. Joy is something that we can have under all circumstances when we are sad or happy. Outward circumstances are always neutral. They seem to be happy or sad according to the happy or sad attitudes of the mind.”
  • “To be happy, you must live in, but not for, the present moment.”
  • “The greatest thing that will please God is that you maintain an attitude of unshakable joy.”
  • “Be able to laugh at difficulties.”
  • “Laughter is a medicine you’ve got to use to drive away blues.”
  • “Happiness is like a plant: It must be watered daily with giving thoughts and actions.”
  • “A deliberate attitude that you have to hold in your mind as one of the basic rules of yoga is to remain even-minded and cheerful..”
  • “If it (the good circumstances) changes will you be able to keep onto your happiness just as much? Because if not then your happiness is really built on sand.”
  •  “Feel that you are happy without any cause for happiness.”
  •  “Take whatever cause for outward happiness you might have and take it within yourself, so that, if the sun should go out, you will not be any less happy; if the birds stop singing you will not be any less happy.”
  •  “Whatever you experience outwardly, take it within yourself and say ‘I’m happy because I’m happy. I’m happy because God is in my heart.’”
  •  “Master said if you want to be happy no one in the world can take happiness from you; if you want to be unhappy, no one in the world can make you happy. So choose to be happy.”
  •  “I’’ve seen some people like this that no matter what happens they’ve got something cheerful to feel about it. It’s not always easy, but if we do it as a deliberate sward of battle rather then thinking ‘Well, I’m not really feeling that way and therefore I shouldn’t say that I am’. No! Make yourself that way!”
  • “It’s not insincere to say you’re happy if your determined to make it true and live in that consciousness.”
  • “Happiness is a question of attitude, not a question of what’s happening out there.”
  • “Even-minded and cheerful. When things go bad, you’ll find that the same kind of attitude comes to you naturally.”
  • “We’ve got to be long distance runners on the spiritual path. We want to run as fast as we can, but at the same time realize that if God isn’t at the end of that 100 yards, we don’t fall flat of exhaustion. We’ve got to have whatever rhythm it takes to be able to go on for incarnations until we find that state of perfection we’ve been seeking.”

  • “Be thou a true yogi. A yogi who understands that everything he’s looking for is really inside himself. Learn to live more in the Self.”

  • “Learn to live more in the Self. Come down a little bit to eat and talk as necessary.”

  • “Become more and more centered in the Self. To live more and more in the thought that God is here in your consciousness.”

  • “Live more quietly. Live more seeking God’s presence in your own heart.”

  • “The real sign of His blessings is if you can have more and more happiness inside. Learn always to be happy; to be happy with the happiness of God. Even- minded and cheerful. This is the fastest route to divine bliss.”

  •  “Understand that there is no relationship between your inner happiness and your inner joy and the outer things that you experience and behold in the world, that it all begins with you, the world is a mirror to your own Self, when you can look at things and feel joy not in the things but in yourself.”

  • “That’s what life is for, to find that joy in yourself.”

  • “Happiness is self-generated. It depends on one’s attitude of mind. The basis of happiness, is the simple fact that the deepest reality of our own nature is ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new joy.”

Happiness Quotes from Well-Known Teachers and Authors:
  • “This much is certain: when a man is happy, happy to the core and root beatitude, he is no longer conscious of himself or anything else.” –Meister Eckhart
  • “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” –Thich Nhat Hanh
  • “Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” –Helen Keller
  • “By bringing about a change in our outlook toward things and events, all phenomena can become sources of happiness.” — The Dalai Lama
  • “Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy with what you have.” –Zig Ziglar
  • “If you let go a little you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely you will be free.” –Ajahn Chah
  • “The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise man grows it under his feet.” –James Oppenheim
  • “If you are depressed, you live in the past. If you are anxious, you live in the future… If you are happy*… You live in the present.” -original quote by Lao Tzu with *peace
  • “Whoever is happy will make others happy.” –Anne Frank
  • “Being cheerful and affable with people is by itself half of wisdom.” –Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq
  • “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” –Buddha
  • “Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” –Omar Khayyam
  • “Compassion automatically brings happiness and calmness.” –The Dalai Lama
  • “There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.” –Peace Pilgrim
  • “We have to choose to be happy and keep choosing it.” –Henri J.M. Nouwen original quote *joy
  • “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.” –Mark Twain
  • “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” — Abraham Lincoln
  • “Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.” –Thich Nhat Hanh
  • “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 when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, I told them they didn’t understand life.” –John Lennon
  • “Happiness must be shared. Selfishness it its enemy; to make another happy is to be happy one’s self. It is quiet, most easily won in moments of solitude and reflection. It comes from within.” –William Ogden
  • “There is no waiting for happiness. It’s now or never. I choose NOW.” –Zia Holte
  • “Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are it solely relies on what you think.” –Buddha
  • “Be so happy that when others look at you, they become happy too.” –Yogi Bhajan
  • “Without the understanding of life’s wholeness the search for truth or happiness must lead to illusion.” –Krishnamurti
  • “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” –Dalai Lama
  • “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” –M. Gandhi
  • “Happiness held is the seed. Happiness shared is the flower.” – John Harrigan
  • “For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • “The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now.” —Robert G. Ingersoll
  • “Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” —Guillaume Apollinaire
  • “If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” —Roald Dahl
  • “True happiness is…to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.” —Seneca


Happiness Quotes from Unknown Authors:

  • “Life is better when you’re laughing.”
  • “Being happy doesn’t mean everything is perfect, it means you have have decided to look beyond imperfections.”
  • ‘”The art of happiness is to serve all. To be truly happy, we must think not only of how we can help ourselves, but how we can help others.”
  • “Make someone happy, then you’ll be happy too.”
  • “Use your smile to change the world. Don’t let the world change your smile.”
  • “Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.”
  • “Happiness isn’t about how much you have, It’s about enjoying how much you have already!”
  • “Life is like a road trip– enjoy each day and don’t carry too much baggage.”
  • “Happiness is a decision. You are as happy as you decide to be.”
  • “It is not happy people who are thankful. It is thankful people who are happy.”
  • “Life is a mixture of sunshine and rain, teardrops and laughter, pleasure and pain. Just remember, there was never a cloud that the sun couldn’t shine through.”
  • “In seeking happiness for others, you find it for yourself.”
  • “To attract something you want, become as happy as you think that thing would make you. Happiness, is not the thing, it is the point.”