“Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.”

All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.

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

Men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

In practical life we are compelled to follow what is most probable ; in speculative thought we are compelled to follow truth.

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.

What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness.

I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.

I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.

Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.

Sadness diminishes a man’s powers.

Freedom is self-determination.

The most tyrannical of governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.

In so far as the mind sees things in their eternal aspect, it participates in eternity.

A free man thinks of nothing less than of death, and his wisdom is a meditation, not on death, but on life.

Minds, however, are conquered not by arms, but by love and nobility.

Happiness does not come from without, it comes from within.

The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.

When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.

Never blame anyone in your life. Good people give you happiness. Bad people give you experience. Worst people give you a lesson. And best people give you memories.

Doing what needs to be done may not make you happy, but it will make you great.

Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because there’s nothing to make it last.

I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery – air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, This is what it is to be happy.

I have this really high priority on happiness and finding something to be happy about.