This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
We all crave happiness, and we have at hand the predisposing conditions which make it possible. Nevertheless, the fact remains that deliberately to pursue happiness is not the surest way of achieving it. Seek it for its own sake and I doubt whether you will find it.
When a man is sure that all he wants is happiness, then most grievously he deceives himself. All men desire happiness, but they need something far different, compared to which happiness is trivial, and in the lack of which happiness turns to bitterness in the mouth. There are many names for that which men need - "the one thing needful" - but the simplest is "wholeness."
Bitterness | Desire | Man | Men | Need | Wants | Wholeness | Wisdom | Happiness |
Leon Montenaeken, fully Louis Moreau Constant Corneille van Montenaeken
In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
Paramananda, fully Swami Paramananda, born Suresh Chandra Guha-Thakurta NULL
A man's happiness requires a great deal more than any material thing. We all find it out sooner or later. If we live our lives thoughtlessly, we defeat our purpose; because our faith in God becomes shattered and there is no greater loss.
Defeat | Faith | God | Man | Purpose | Purpose | Wisdom | God | Happiness |
Margaret Oliphant, fully Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant, née Margaret Oliphant Wilson
What happiness is there which is not purchased with more or less of pain?
Every person in the world may not become a personage. But every person may become a personality. The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Interesting thoughts can live only in cultivated minds. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good plays at the theater, good company, good conversation - what are they? They are the happiest people in the world; and they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others.
Books | Cause | Conversation | Good | Happy | Leisure | Love | Means | Music | People | Personality | Wisdom | World | Happiness | Think |
Babe Paley, fully Barbara Cushing "Babe" Mortimer Paley
The common course of things is in favor of happiness. Happiness is the rule, misery the exception. Were the order reversed, our attention would be called to examples of health and competency, instead of disease and want.
Attention | Disease | Health | Order | Rule | Wisdom | Happiness |
Have success and there will always be fools to say that you have talent.
Business is founded on vision and confidence; success on industry and cooperation.
Business | Confidence | Cooperation | Industry | Success | Vision | Wisdom |
Jean Racine, baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine
The happiness of the wicked passes away like a torrent.
The influences that really make and mar human happiness are beyond the reach of the law.