Socrates

Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?

Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds.

Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service.

Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.

I was afraid that by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with each of my other senses I might blind my soul altogether.

Happiness isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. You must define what it looks like for you and then make a conscious effort to access whatever gets you to your unique definition of joy.

If you are not happy every morning when you get up, leave for work, or start to work at home, and are not enthusiastic about doing that, you will not be successful.

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

To fill the hour – that is happiness.

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

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

I’ve found happiness in my work, but not in my private life. I had to take from my private life to make my public life successful. I had to make a lot of sacrifices. I was happy in Cardiff. I had a great time. Every Thursday there was a factory club; darts, dancing. I was happy until success entered my life, and then it was all downhill. Success spoilt me. It took away my happiness. My success became a barrier with my family. They couldn’t relate to me, and I couldn’t relate to them.

Happiness ain’t a thing in itself -it’s only a contrast with something that ain’t pleasant. And so, as soon as the novelty is over and the force of the contrast dulled, it ain’t happiness any longer, and you have to get something fresh.

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

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

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

How often, for example, have you said or heard someone else say, “All I really want in this life is to be happy”? It sounds like a commonsense answer, but as a life goal, it is destined for failure. My dog, Barkley, wants to be happy. Does that mean that the two of you want the same things? I don’t think so. I’ll bet everything I own that you and Barkley define happiness very differently. So unless you’re willing to settle for someone scratching your belly and letting you sleep under the coffee table, you might want to be a little more precise about what you as a unique individual really want.

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.

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

You have no more right to consume happiness without producing it, than you do to consume wealth without producing it.