Thomas J. Vilord

Keep on trying… each failure is one step closer to a success.

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

Happiness and unhappiness are in the heart and spirit of each one of us: If you feel unhappy, then place yourself above that and act so that your happiness does not get to be dependent on anything.

It isn’t necessary to be rich and famous to be happy, it’s only necessary to be rich.

The intense happiness of our union is derived in a high degree from the perfect freedom with which we each follow and declare our own impressions.

We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.

Whether happiness may come or not, one should try and prepare one’s self to do without it.

Pursue whatever it is that you want to do with your life. It is the only secret to happiness that I know except for maybe true love, that and maybe having the amazing health insurance plan that our congressmen have.

If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.

Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.

Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won’t have to haunt for happiness

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.

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.

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 is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.