Philosophers on Happiness: Collection of Timeless Wisdom and Quotes From Great Thinkers
The grand and common theme of long-lasting happiness, even though it’s a problematic term to categorize because it means different things to different people is that everyone strives to achieve it.
Life is complex and there’s no one-size-fits-all path to finding happiness. There are different ways to achieve long-lasting happiness, and philosophers, for centuries, have been breaking down the components of this state of mind. But you don’t have to be a philosopher to make up your mind. Happiness is important for all of us, and many even consider it the final destination of our journeys.
Many people associate happiness differently. For some, it’s about the internal state, and others look for it in external factors, such as family or money. And I’m on my way to figuring it out as well. One productive and positive perspective we can share is that happiness is a skill we can cultivate. As wisdom quotes from historical figures like Marcus Aurelius remind us:
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
Stoic philosophers have been known for cultivating their virtues and living reasonably according to nature to achieve a long-term state of happiness. They had a favorable attitude toward life, shared objective judgment based on reason, and expressed their affirmations and gratitude.
Despite the passage of over two thousand years, the philosophy of Stoicism is still favorable and cultivated by many people, and even seems to experience its renaissance these days. “Meditations“ by Marcus Aurelius remains one of the most powerful guides to live.
And this attitude of being able to achieve happiness, comparing it to a skill that we can develop by acquiring a certain approach and act is still alive.
“Choose the non-emotional response to any given situation and see how much easier your life becomes.“ - Naval Ravikant, a successful entrepreneur and angel investor, often described as “The Angel Philosopher”
Knowing how happiness is important and how many have spoken about it, I decided to collect timeless wisdom to expand our perspectives, get the bigger picture, and serve food for thoughts that may be valuable.
Here are the timeless nuggets of wisdom on happiness from great and eminent philosophers and thinkers from ancient times to the 20th century.
Socrates:
“Happiness flows not from physical or external conditions, such as bodily pleasures or wealth and power, but from living a life that's right for your soul, your deepest good”
“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”
Plato:
“For the man who makes everything that leads to happiness, or near to it, to depend upon himself, and not upon other men, on whose good or evil actions his own doings are compelled to hinge,--such a one, I say, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation; this is the man of manly character and of wisdom.”
Aristotle:
“Happiness, whether consisting in pleasure or virtue, or both, is more often found with those who are highly cultivated in their minds and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods, than among those who possess external goods to a useless extent but are deficient in higher qualities.”
As we can notice, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, commonly described as the Big Three of Greek philosophies, shared an attitude of maintaining the concept of virtue-based ethics. Happiness or well-being is the highest aim of morals, and virtues are requisite skills for attaining long-term happiness.
Seneca:
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing."
Marcus Aurelius:
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.“
Epictetus:
“Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.”
“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”
The common ground between Seneca, Aurelius, and Epictetus is that they highlighted the human need to attain the attitude of living by virtue, understood as the state of harmony between the universe and rational human activities. These activities should be marked by inner peace, self-control, and immovability towards what does not depend on a human being.
Epicurus:
“We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it.”
Voltaire:
“What is called happiness is an abstract idea, composed of various ideas of pleasure; for he who has but a moment of pleasure is not a happy man, in like manner that a moment of grief constitutes not a miserable one.“
John Locke:
“The necessity of pursuing true happiness is the foundation of all liberty- Happiness, in its full extent, is the utmost pleasure we are capable of.”
“Men always forget that human happiness is a disposition of mind and not a condition of circumstances.”
Montesquieu:
“If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.”
We often assume that others are happier than us simply because of a lack of perspective. We only see one side of others' happiness. Then Montesquieu added:
“False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.”
Henry David Thoreau:
“Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will evade you, but if you notice the other things around you, it will gently come and sit on your shoulder.”
Montesquieu and Henry David Thoreau offered interesting views on happiness. The first one noticed a kind of paradox. We can't get the full view of others' lives and their happiness. However, we still like to compare our happiness to others, and often it's unhealthy. This message seems highly valuable and necessary, especially in today's world heavily dominated by social media.
Thoreau said one of the most beautiful metaphors for happiness, comparing it to the butterfly. Except for the artistic value of that quote, it proposes a pragmatic mindset, and much needed nowadays as well.
Immanuel Kant:
“Rules for Happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.”
Jean Jacques Rousseau:
“Why should we build our happiness on the opinions of others, when we can find it in our own hearts?”
John Stuart Mill:
"I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them"
Soren Kierkegaard:
“A man who as physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him“
Another great metaphor for happiness compared to one of the seasons was proposed by a well-known existentialist, the author of the bestselling and well-received book The Stranger.
Albert Camus:
“When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him. In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
Hope you can find invincible summer within you!
Ayn Rand:
“I say that man is entitled to his own happiness and that he must achieve it himself. But that he cannot demand that others give up their lives to make him happy”
Bertrand Russell:
“Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.”
Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, and social critic. He wrote a whole book on Happiness - The Conquest of Happiness. The keynote is that happiness is more of a choice than anything else, providing helpful insights into the meaning, spirituality, and rewards of life.
Still curious? Valuable insights you can get from Letters from a Stoic by Seneca and one of my favorite books Striking Thoughts by Bruce Lee, whose philosophy I partly described in one of my blog posts.
If you find this content valuable, please consider supporting Play for Thoughts. Your contributions help keep the site running and constantly providing quality content.