Little islands of human happiness, peace, and prosperity are so exceptional at this point in history that I'm not even sure we can draw lessons from them.
I think the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of reality because illusion never leaves us ultimately happy.
There is an old saying that money can't buy happiness. If it could, I would buy myself four hits every game.
Happiness is your own treasure because it lies within you.
I've had at least my share of tragedy, but I have had far more than my share of happiness.
Is anyone serious about the politics of happiness? David Cameron dipped a toe in the water, using the word lightly, but denying the hard policies it implies. Labour shies away from it, but should take up the challenge.
It is now possible to quantify people's levels of happiness pretty accurately by asking them, by observation, and by measuring electrical activity in the brain, in degrees from terrible pain to sublime joy.
Happiness is a real, objective phenomenon, scientifically verifiable. That means people and whole societies can now be measured over time and compared accurately with one another. Causes and cures for unhappiness can be quantified.
Inequality makes everyone unhappy, the poor most of all, and that is well within the remit of the state. More money gives less extra happiness the richer we get, yet we are addicted to earning and spending more every year.
The British do not expect happiness. I had the impression, all the time that I lived there, that they do not want to be happy; they want to be right.
I don't have to take a trip around the world or be on a yacht in the Mediterranean to have happiness. I can find it in the little things, like looking out into my backyard and seeing deer in the fields.
I think people really marry far too much; it is such a lottery after all, and for a poor woman a very doubtful happiness.
If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do have a problem.
Happiness is the reward we get for living to the highest right we know.
Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness.
One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.
The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.
Worldly wealth is the Devil's bait; and those whose minds feed upon riches recede, in general, from real happiness, in proportion as their stores increase, as the moon, when she is fullest, is farthest from the sun.
A lot of our happiness is derived from experiences, not from buying products. People are twice as happy buying experiences as products. People are happy buying experiences. They don't want something that's commoditised.
But it is my happiness to be half Welsh, and that the better half.
Happiness, I do not know where to turn to discover you on earth, in the air or the sky; yet I know you exist and are no futile dream.
