Happiness isn’t something you experience; it’s something you remember.
—Oscar Levant, 1972
The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost.
—Marcel Proust, 1927
14
Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
—Albert Schweitzer
15
Happiness, n. An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of others.
16
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906
Our happiness or unhappiness depends more upon the way in which we meet the events of
life, than upon the nature of those events themselves.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt, 1849
17
A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.
—Jane Austen, 1814
Money doesn’t always bring happiness. People with ten million dollars are no happier than
people with nine million dollars.
18
—Anonymous
19
If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest
individual would not be a man or a woman, it would be, I think, an American cow.
—William Lyon Phelps, 1927
It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.
—John Stuart Mill, 1861
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
—Ernest Hemingway, 1986
A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.
—Anatole France, 1923
20
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if
stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
—Gustave Flaubert, 1846
14
Frequently paraphrased as “The only paradise is the paradise lost”.
15
As quoted in several generally reliable sources, starting not later than 1960.
16
Looks like a development of a much earlier line by François de La Rochefoucauld: “We all have
strength enough to endure the misfortune of others”.
17
Sometimes misattributed to his younger brother, naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
18
Apparently a reaction to the common proverb “Money can’t buy happiness”.
19
Frequently attributed to Hobart Brown, but I was unable to find a reliable confirmation of his
authorship.
20
The date of the apparently first English publication.
On Optimism, Pessimism, and Happiness
91
—Oscar Levant, 1972
The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost.
—Marcel Proust, 1927
14
Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
—Albert Schweitzer
15
Happiness, n. An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of others.
16
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906
Our happiness or unhappiness depends more upon the way in which we meet the events of
life, than upon the nature of those events themselves.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt, 1849
17
A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.
—Jane Austen, 1814
Money doesn’t always bring happiness. People with ten million dollars are no happier than
people with nine million dollars.
18
—Anonymous
19
If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest
individual would not be a man or a woman, it would be, I think, an American cow.
—William Lyon Phelps, 1927
It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.
—John Stuart Mill, 1861
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
—Ernest Hemingway, 1986
A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.
—Anatole France, 1923
20
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if
stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
—Gustave Flaubert, 1846
14
Frequently paraphrased as “The only paradise is the paradise lost”.
15
As quoted in several generally reliable sources, starting not later than 1960.
16
Looks like a development of a much earlier line by François de La Rochefoucauld: “We all have
strength enough to endure the misfortune of others”.
17
Sometimes misattributed to his younger brother, naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
18
Apparently a reaction to the common proverb “Money can’t buy happiness”.
19
Frequently attributed to Hobart Brown, but I was unable to find a reliable confirmation of his
authorship.
20
The date of the apparently first English publication.
On Optimism, Pessimism, and Happiness
91