There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.

If I can get my dress on, my weight is under control.

I never needed much, and I never thought I’d get more than what I had. A trip to Burger King was the biggest thing in the world to me. Heaven.

Be content to seem what you really are.

The mind of America is seized by a fatal dry rot – and it’s only a question of time before all that the mind controls will run amuck in a frenzy of stupid, impotent fear.

Do not let Sunday be taken from you. If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.

Nothing flatters a man as much as the happiness of his wife; he is always proud of himself as the source of it.

Fight with a happy heart.

By taking a second wife he pays the highest compliment to the first, by showing that she made him so happy as a married man, that he wishes to be so a second time.

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

First and foremost comes my family and my life with Brad. We have so much joy in raising our children and teaching them about the world that nothing really compares to that.

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.

We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it.

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 a paradise in a few years.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

I’ve always put everybody else’s child first before my own health, before my own outfit, before my own time frame.

Man’s real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so.

Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been.

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

When I was 11 I became very depressed. It had a lot to do with the climate and ecological crisis. I thought everything was just so wrong and nothing was happening and there’s no point in anything.

Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principle of evil.

I think Buddhism should open the door of psychology and healing to penetrate more easily into the Western world.

Writing makes you feel that there is a reason to go on living. If I couldn’t write, I would stop breathing.

We should purify our innate well of contentment – what a wonderful expression – and then external things will be in harmony with us.

In my later years, I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I’ve worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior.

People tend to dwell more on negative things than on good things. So the mind then becomes obsessed with negative things, with judgments, guilt and anxiety produced by thoughts about the future and so on.

If women believed in their husbands they would be a good deal happier and also a good deal more foolish.

He was so depressed, he tried to commit suicide by inhaling next to an Armenian.

Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.

We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.

Peace is not the absence of war, but a virtue based on strength of character.

If we depend for our happiness on another, on society or on environment, they become essential to us; we cling to them, and any alteration of these we violently oppose because we depend upon them for our psychological security and comfort.

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.

Fun is good.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

You just want something else that someone else has, but that doesn’t mean what you have isn’t beautiful, because people always want what you have, and you always want what they have – no one is ever 100 per cent like, ‚Yes, I’m the bomb dot com – from head to toe!‘

I’ve been searching for ways to heal myself, and I’ve found that kindness is the best way.

Peace in the world starts with peace in oneself. If everyone lives mindfully, everyone will be more healthy, feel more fulfilled in their daily lives and there will be more peace.

I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.

Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one.

The object of the superior man is truth.

As a sportsperson, the best thing is people recognising you and loving you for what you do. For me, glamour is 100 people in the hotel feeling happy to see you.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.

I’m not looking to get away from anything. I like what I’ve done. I like what I get to do and I enjoy working with my friends. I loved those movies, but this is incredible.

Guilt is cancer. Guilt will confine you, torture you, destroy you as an artist. It’s a black wall. It’s a thief.

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.

I’m not happy all the time, and I wouldn’t want to be because that would make me a shallow person. But I do try to find the good in everybody.

The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.

Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

As unique as we all are, an awful lot of us want the same things. We want to shake up our current less-than-fulfilling lives. We want to be happier, more loving, forgiving and connected with the people around us.