The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require
happiness.
—William Saroyan, 1939
The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you’ll never
find it.
—Carrie Snow
21
Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the
by-product of other activities.
—Aldous Huxley, 1945
The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or
not. The cure for it is occupation.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1910
To abandon the struggle for private happiness, to expel all eagerness for temporary desire,
to burn with passion for eternal things—this is emancipation.
—Bernard Russell, 1903
I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be
useful, […] to have made some difference that you lived at all.
—Leo Calvin Rosten, 1965
The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
—John Mason Brown, 1947
Nobody of [the scientists] knew exactly what is happiness and what constitutes the meaning
of life. So they have accepted a working hypothesis that happiness is in a continuing
exploration of the unknown, and the meaning of life is in the same.
—Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, 1965
21
As quoted, without a date, in several reputable collections; sometimes misattributed to C.
P. Snow.
92
On Optimism, Pessimism, and Happiness
happiness.
—William Saroyan, 1939
The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you’ll never
find it.
—Carrie Snow
21
Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the
by-product of other activities.
—Aldous Huxley, 1945
The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or
not. The cure for it is occupation.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1910
To abandon the struggle for private happiness, to expel all eagerness for temporary desire,
to burn with passion for eternal things—this is emancipation.
—Bernard Russell, 1903
I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be
useful, […] to have made some difference that you lived at all.
—Leo Calvin Rosten, 1965
The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
—John Mason Brown, 1947
Nobody of [the scientists] knew exactly what is happiness and what constitutes the meaning
of life. So they have accepted a working hypothesis that happiness is in a continuing
exploration of the unknown, and the meaning of life is in the same.
—Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, 1965
21
As quoted, without a date, in several reputable collections; sometimes misattributed to C.
P. Snow.
92
On Optimism, Pessimism, and Happiness