John Stuart Mill Quotes

No one should ever ask themselves that: why am I unhappy? The question carries within it the virus that will destroy everything. If we ask that question, it means we want to find out what makes us happy. If what makes us happy is different from what we have now, then we must either change once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy.

I hope I don't get driven to the point where, to be honest, I'm never satisfied. I hope there's some part of me that can be content.

Helped are those who are content to be themselves; they will never lack mystery in their lives and the joys of self-discovery will be constant.

I'm not as thrilled with myself as I used to be.

I worry that if I enjoy something - like the songs on 'Some Nights' are about wondering about who you are. I'm never quite sure and I'd hate to feel sort of content and get a good sense of who I am because if I know one thing, that's not me. I don't mind not necessarily being happy about it. And that's fine.

Everything becomes so problematic because of basic faults: from a discontent with myself.

There is no guarantee what will give you happiness any which way. I know many married people who are unhappy.

I think I could go away tomorrow. I've already accomplished something. It's such a selfish business that sometimes I get sick of myself.

I'm either enjoying myself or I'm not. And if I'm not enjoying myself, something's gone terribly wrong.

The man who is dissatisfied with himself, what can he do?

I truly believe happiness has a different meaning for everyone. But I also believe that the sense of self is the key to one's happiness.

Know your own happiness.

Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.

Just write the best you can about the things that concern you most. I never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun.

Without order there can be no inner satisfaction. Without inner satisfaction there can be no freedom. Without freedom there is no joy.

I was creative before I started meditating, but I had, looking back, a weakness. I wasn't self-assured. I had a little bit of melancholy. I had a lot of anger for my situations in life, and I would take this out on my first wife.

Happiness comes, I know, from some spring within a man — from some curious adjustment to life.

Would I still feel this way on leaving the party tonight? Or would I find cunning ways to latch on to minor defects so they'd start to bother me and allow me to snuff the dream till it tapered off and lost its luster and, with its luster gone, remind me once again, as ever again, that happiness is the one thing that in our lives others cannot bring.

The best revenge you can have on intellectuals is to be madly happy.

And feel that I am happier than I know.

The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.

My life, my joy, my food, my ail the world!

Self knowers always dwell in El Dorado; they drink from the fountain of youth, and at all times owners of all they wish to enjoy.

My life is one that I've aimed for - I've always wanted to be an actor who worked in film and television and was able to provide for himself and his family. That was always a goal of mine. Now that I'm doing that, I think we have this idea, "Once that's achieved, all complaints will leave and I will be happy and be filled!" And I didn't have that.

Self-knowledge makes me happy.