Total Pageviews

Wednesday 31 July 2013

321/365 - More selfless to act happy (Gretchen Rubin)


“The belief that unhappiness is selfless 
and happiness is selfish
 is misguided.

 It's more selfless to act happy.

 It takes energy, generosity, 
and discipline 
to be unfailingly lighthearted,
 yet everyone takes the happy person for granted.

 No one is careful of his feelings 
or tries to keep his spirits high.

 He seems self-sufficient;
 he becomes a cushion for others. 

And because happiness seems unforced, 
that person usually gets no credit.”

  Gretchen Rubin
The Happiness Project


Tuesday 30 July 2013

Monday 29 July 2013

319/365 - Hiw own happiness (Charles Dickens)


“Sadly, sadly, the sun rose;
 it rose upon no sadder sight
 than the man of good abilities 
and good emotions, 
incapable of their directed exercise,
 incapable of his own help 
and his own happiness,
 sensible of the blight on him, 
and resigning himself 
to let it eat him away.”

Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities


Sunday 28 July 2013

318/365 - The Creator of your experience (Leo Babauta)


“The way I define happiness
 is being the creator of your experience, 
choosing to take pleasure
 in what you have, 
right now,
 regardless of the circumstances,
 while being the best you that you can be.”

  Leo Babauta


Saturday 27 July 2013

317/365 - Is Ignorance bliss? (Jonathan Safran Foer)


“...is ignorance bliss,
 I don't know,
 but it's so painful to think, 
and tell me, 
what did thinking ever do for me, 
to what great place did thinking ever bring me?

 I think and think and think,
 I've thought myself out of happiness 
one million times,
 but never once into it.”

Jonathan Safran Foer
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


Friday 26 July 2013

316/365 - Determined to be Cheerful (Martha Washington)


“I am still determined
 to be cheerful and happy,
 in whatever situation I may be;
 for I have also learned from experience
 that the greater part of our happiness 
or misery depends upon our dispositions, 
and not upon our circumstances.”

Martha Washington


Thursday 25 July 2013

315/365 - The purpose of Government (Thomas Jefferson)


“The purpose of government 
is to enable the people of a nation
 to live in safety and happiness.

 Government exists
 for the interests of the governed, 
not for the governors.”

Thomas Jefferson


Wednesday 24 July 2013

314/365 - Guarded by Dragons (Alexandre Dumas)


“Happiness is like those palaces in fairytales 
whose gates are guarded by dragons: 
We must fight in order to conquer it.”

Alexandre Dumas


Tuesday 23 July 2013

313/365 - The Joy of achievement (Franklin D. Roosevelt)


“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement
 and the thrill of creative effort.”

 Franklin D. Roosevelt


Monday 22 July 2013

312/365 - Seize the moments (Leo Tolstoy)


“Seize the moments of happiness
 love and be loved! 

That is the only reality in the world, 
all else is folly

. It is the one thing
 we are interested in here.”

  Leo Tolstoy

Sunday 21 July 2013

311/365 - From within (Helen Keller)


“Happiness does not come from without,
 it comes from within”

  Helen Keller


Saturday 20 July 2013

310/365 - What Sunshine is the Flowers (Joseph Addison)


“What sunshine is to flowers, 
smiles are to humanity.
 These are but trifles,
 to be sure; 
but scattered along life's pathway,
 the good they do is inconceivable.”

  - Joseph Addison


Friday 19 July 2013

309/365 - True Children (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)


“Age does not make us childish,
as some say;
it finds us true children.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


Thursday 18 July 2013

308/365 - Make peace (Doris Mortman)


“Until you make peace
with who you are,
you'll never be content
with what you have.”

Doris Mortman


Wednesday 17 July 2013

307/365 - Be brave (Mary Tyler Moore)


“You can't be brave
if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.”

Mary Tyler Moore


Monday 15 July 2013

305/365 - Storm of life (Hunter S. Thompson)


“So we shall let the reader
answer this question for himself:
who is the happier man,
he who has braved the storm of life
and lived
or he who has stayed securely on shore
and merely existed?”

Hunter S. Thompson

Sunday 14 July 2013

304/365 - Hope (Alfred Tennyson)


“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering 'it will be happier'...”

Alfred Tennyson

Saturday 13 July 2013

Friday 12 July 2013

302/365 - To do what we want (Ayn Rand)


“Why do they always teach us
that it's easy and evil
to do what we want
and that we need discipline
to restrain ourselves?
It's the hardest thing in the world--
to do what we want.
And it takes the greatest kind of courage.
I mean, what we really want.”

Ayn Rand


Thursday 11 July 2013

301/365 - Select your thoughts (Elizabeth Gilbert)


“You need to learn how to select your thoughts
just the same way you select your clothes every day.
This is a power you can cultivate.
If you want to control things in your life so bad,
work on the mind.
That's the only thing
you should be trying to control.”

Elizabeth Gilbert
(Eat, Pray, Love)

Wednesday 10 July 2013

300/365 - When my Heart was touched (Edgar Allan Poe)


“I was never really insane
except upon occasions when my heart was touched.”

- Edgar Allan Poe


Tuesday 9 July 2013

299/365 - The word 'disabilities' (Fred Rogers)


“Part of the problem
 with the word 'disabilities'
 is that it immediately suggests 
an inability to see or hear 
or walk or do other things 
that many of us take for granted.

 But what of people
 who can't feel?

 Or talk about their feelings?

 Or manage their feelings
 in constructive ways?

 What of people
 who aren't able to form close
 and strong relationships? 

And people 
who cannot find fulfillment 
in their lives, 
or those who have lost hope,
 who live in disappointment
 and bitterness 
and find in life no joy,
 no love? 

These, it seems to me, 
are the real disabilities.”

  - Fred Rogers
The World According to Mister Rogers:
 Important Things to Remember


Monday 8 July 2013

298/365 - The search for contentment (Elizabeth Gilbert)


“As I focus on diligent joy, 
I also keep remembering
 a simple idea
 my friend Darcey told me once --
 that all the sorrow and trouble
 of this world 
is caused by unhappy people.

 Not only in the big global
 Hitler-'n'-Stalin picture,
but also on the smallest personal level.

 Even in my own life,
I can see exactly
where my episodes of unhappiness
have brought suffering
or distress or (at the very least)
inconvenience
 to those around me.

 The search for contentment is,
 therefore,
not merely a self-preserving
and self-benefiting act,
 but also a generous gift to the world.

Clearing out all your misery
gets you out of the way.

 You cease being an obstacle,
not only to yourself
but to anyone else.

 Only then are you free
to serve and enjoy
other people.”

- Elizabeth Gilbert
  Eat, Pray, Love


Sunday 7 July 2013

297/365 - Risk being happy (Robert Anthony)


“Most people 
would rather be certain
 they're miserable,
 than risk being happy.”

  - Robert Anthony



Saturday 6 July 2013

296/365 - To stand up to our friends (J.K. Rowling)


“It takes much bravery
 to stand up to our enemies
 but we need as much bravery 
to stand up to our friends.”

- J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone



Friday 5 July 2013

295/365 - Why isn't that enough (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)


“My God,
 a moment of bliss.

 Why, isn't that enough
 for a whole lifetime?”

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
White Nights



Thursday 4 July 2013

294/365 - If you wish to be happy (Christopher Paolini)


“If you wish to be happy, Eragon,
 think not of what is to come
 nor of that which you have no control over 
but rather of the now
 and that which you are able to change" 

- Christopher Paolini
Oromis to eragon 




Wednesday 3 July 2013

293/365 - True Happiness (Thich Nhat Hanh)


“Many people think excitement
 is happiness.... 

But when you are excited 
you are not peaceful. 

 True happiness
 is based on peace.”

  - Thich Nhat Hanh
  The Art of Power






Tuesday 2 July 2013

292/365 - Time does not turn in a circle (Milan Kundera)


“And therein lies the whole of man's plight. 

Human time does not turn in a circle;
 it runs ahead in a straight line.

 That is why man cannot be happy: 
happiness is the longing for repetition.”

  - Milan Kundera
The Unbearable Lightness of Being



Monday 1 July 2013

291/365 - While I'm alive (Leo Tolstoy)


“Pierre was right when he said
 that one must believe 
in the possibility of happiness 
in order to be happy,
 and I now believe in it.

 Let the dead bury the dead,
 but while I'm alive,
 I must live and be happy.”

- Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace