George Eliot

Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.

Among all forms of mistake, prophecy is the most gratuitous.

I like not only to be loved, but also to be told I am loved.

Excessive literary production is a social offense.

There are some cases in which the sense of injury breeds – not the will to inflict injuries and climb over them as a ladder, but – a hatred of all injury.

Hostesses who entertain much must make up their parties as ministers make up their cabinets, on grounds other than personal liking.

The key to being happy is knowing you have the power to choose what to except and what to let go.

It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed.

Happiness is unrepentant pleasure.

Money itself won’t bring happiness, but it sure makes paying the bills easier.

Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.

What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.

It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.

The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.

While I am opposed to all orthodox creeds, I have a creed myself; and my creed is this. Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so. This creed is somewhat short, but it is long enough for this life, strong enough for this world. If there is another world, when we get there we can make another creed.

If happiness is what you’re after, you’re gonna be let down frequently and you’re gonna be unhappy much of your time. Joy though, joy is the feeling that we have doing what we are fashioned to do, no matter the outcome.

Happiness is a continuation of happenings which are not resisted.

They’ve got no idea what happiness is, they don’t know that without this love there is no happiness or unhappiness for us–there is no life.

You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.