On Self-Worship
We do not have to act out everything we feel; that is idolatry of our own selves and does not lead to any kind of deep happiness. — Madeleine L’Engle, in Penguins and Golden Calves
Achieving Utopia
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years. — Bertrand Russell
True Happiness
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
On the Pursuit of Happiness
Well-being and happiness never appeared to me as an absolute aim. I am even inclined to compare such moral aims to the ambitions of a pig. — Albert Einstein
On Death
As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. — Leonardo da Vinci
On Keeping a Positive Attitude
I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances. — Martha Washington
On Securing Happiness
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. — Helen Keller