20 Inspiring Happiness Quotes

It’s time to get our happy on with some happiness quotes.

A couple of weeks ago, a dear friend asked me while we were out having dinner if I was happy. As I was in the middle of a frustrating job hunting process, I promptly burst into tears and cried all over my dinner.

I admit sometimes I’m inspired to write a post because I need it myself!

I figure if I can pick myself up and help other people who I know are going through the same struggles, it’s a win/win situation.

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Whilst I am feeling a lot more positive and happier now than I did that night in the restaurant, being aware and actively taking steps to ramp up our happiness meter can only be a good thing.

With that in mind, here are my top 20 happiness quotes.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi

I personally love this one, it really resonates with me. When we spend a lot of time doing one thing and saying another it creates massive conflict in our lives.

Since I started this blog back in 2010, I have tried to be a person who walks the talk. Honestly, sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t.

One thing I always do is keep trying.

I try to learn from each mistake or misstep, grow from it and keep walking the talk (being in harmony with what I say, think and do.)

It’s an ongoing process but one well worth the effort.

Check out my earlier Gandhi post – 10 Thought-Provoking Lessons from Mahatma Gandhi

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.” – Charles Spurgeon

You can have a bucket-load of money and not enjoy it. You can have amazing family and friends and not spend enough time enjoying their company.

Fully appreciate and enjoy what you do have before you go wishing for more.

Happiness often sneaks in a door you didn’t know you left open.” – John Barrymore

Let’s face it our happiness doesn’t always come from where we think it will.

It can come from some very unexpected sources or it can emerge out of the darkness after a harrowing experience.

Related post – Are We Expecting Too Much From Happiness?

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln.

You choose to be happy and you choose your level of happiness.

If you really want to be miserable, cranky and unhappy there are plenty of places and people to turn to but if you want to be happy you need to turn to yourself and choose.

Happiness is always knocking on your door, you just gotta let it in.” – Unknown 

Often we hang onto our misery. We get so used to it being around we hang onto it like a security blanket.

Happiness is knocking. Let it in.

Happiness is an inside job. Don’t assign anyone else that much power over your life.” – Mandy Hale

Your happiness is all on you.

Don’t rely on your partner, your family, your job or your children to define or provide your happiness. You hold the key to your happiness – you have that power and you need to hold onto it.

Related post – Don’t Let Anyone Else Define Your Worth

If you want to find happiness – find gratitude.” – Steve Maraboli

Instead of focusing on what you don’t have – focus big time on what you do have.

Count your blessings and be grateful.

Get detailed and specific about what you are grateful for on a regular basis. Start a gratitude practice, where you say out loud or write down what you are grateful for every day. Do it twice a day for maximum effect.

Get your gratitude on and happiness will be right there with you. Grab yourself a gratitude journal and get started!

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.” – James M. Barrie

Yep, sometimes we have to do stuff we don’t like or don’t want to do. That’s life!

But that doesn’t mean we can’t find happiness in some of the things we don’t like doing. Break the project, task or action down and find the bits you do enjoy. Maximize the hell out of those and make them your key focus areas.

By focusing on the positive stuff, you are more likely to take the steps that will get you doing less of what you don’t like and more of what you do. If you focus on the bad stuff, most likely you will just get more of it.

Related post – 10 Behaviors That Stop You Growing as a Person

Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness.” – Buddha

Buddha definitely was onto something big with this one!

Letting go is all about coming to terms with change and moving past it. No grudges, no bitterness, no anger, no guilt – just pure letting it all go and being happy.

Granted not the easiest thing to do at times but one that has big payoffs when you do.

Related post – Letting Go of What Happened (When you are still Dealing with the Consequences)

Happiness consists of living each day as if it were the first day of your honeymoon and the last day of your vacation.” – Leo Tolstoy

I read this one and I think – seize the day. Seize it with enthusiasm, excitement and a sense of opportunity.

Being happy doesn’t mean everything is perfect. It means you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.” – Unknown

I think this one is important because far too many of us fall into the trap of “I’ll be happy when ….”

We think losing a certain amount of weight or getting a particular job will make our life perfect and then we will be happy.

Perfection has nothing to do with happiness, in fact, it’s a massive roadblock.

Life will bring you pain all by itself. Your responsibility is to create joy.” – Milton Erickson

I loved this one because it’s real. Life can be painful. It can be hard.

To pretend this isn’t the case feels kind of stupid to me and I’m not the one to try to tell you life is all unicorns and rainbows. Shit happens and yes pain happens.

As the quote states – your responsibility is to create joy.

Always be looking for the joy. Always be looking for the beauty and laughter and joy. Create away!

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.” – James Oppenheim

Happiness isn’t something you are chasing for someday, one day or tomorrow. It’s not something off in the distance. Not something out of your reach.

It’s RIGHT NOW.

It’s this second, this moment as you read this blog post. It’s right under your feet. Not to mention in your head and heart!

Related post – The One Thing You Can Do Right Now to Feel Happier and Less Stressed

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” – Margaret Lee Runbeck

As a traveler, I really like this one. You don’t get to happiness like it’s a place on a map that you can catch a train or drive to.

It lives within you and you take it with you everywhere.

Related post – 12 Thought-Provoking Travel Quotes

In our lives, change is unavoidable, loss is unavoidable. In the adaptability and
ease with which we experience change, lies our happiness and freedom.” – Buddha

This one is right up Write Change Grow’s alley. Change is unavoidable. Your ability to quickly adapt, be flexible and roll with the punches has a lot to do with your happiness levels.

If you constantly resist change, don’t acknowledge your grief and loss and hold on tight to the past you are making it harder for yourself to be happy.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama

Be kind. Be compassionate. Help other people and make them feel special.

Helping out people will, in turn, make you happier as well.

True happiness….arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self.” – Joseph Addison

Remember the importance of enjoyment we mentioned earlier, well you fit into that category as well. The more you enjoy, appreciate and cherish spending time with yourself the more at peace you will be.

Make peace with yourself. Learn how to love and accept yourself.

Choose people who choose you.” – Unknown

Man, I wish I had fully understood this quote back in my twenties.

Now I realize I spent a LOT of years choosing people who didn’t choose me. What an epic waste of my precious time that was!

Let me tell you, this one can be a total game-changer for your happiness.

When you know your own worth you choose people who chose you!

Stop looking for happiness in the same place you lost it.” – Unknown

I’m not sure why but when I read this quote I think of relationships – failed romantic relationships to be specific. Maybe I think of it because I went back into bad relationships thinking they would make me happy when they were part of the cause of my unhappiness in the first place.

For you, the quote might mean something else entirely. It might signify the power of letting go and moving on. It might mean looking back in general and wanting things to be as they once were.

There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy.” – Unknown

There are so many reasons to be happy. I know the world can sometimes feel like a scary place but there is so much goodness, joy, and beauty as well.

Turn off the doom and gloom news stories, step away from toxic reality television and see the beauty and joy.

See the happiness and love.

I hope you enjoyed my 20 inspiring happiness quotes. I hope they got you thinking, made you smile and made you feel happier.

Please share this post with your friends via the shiny social media buttons attached. Sharing is always appreciated. 🙂

Love a good quote? Make sure you check out my other posts – My Top 10 Thought-Provoking Quotes, 12 Thought-Provoking Change Quotes, and 12 Thought-Provoking Time Quotes.

Feel like a little musical inspiration? I can’t help feeling happy when I hear this song.