Katherine Anne Porter Quotes

I could see no reason for being sad. It´s just that it makes me unhappy not to feel happy.

The trick is not how much pain you feel - but how much joy you feel

Joy, happiness ... we do not question. They are beyond question, maybe. A matter of being. But pain forces us to think, and to make connections ... to discover what has been happening to cause it. And, curiously enough, pain draws us to other human beings in a significant way, whereas joy or happiness to some extent, isolates.

You really think joy is easier to come by than pain? What have you had more of?

Happiness is a work of art. Handle with care.

When I think of the happiness that is in store for me, every sorrow, every pain becomes dear to me.

And I believe happiness is the exact opposite of sadness, bitterness, and hatred: happiness should remain unexamined as long as possible.

Cheerfulness is a policy; happiness is a talent.

I'm not a big proponent of happiness. I think it's highly overrated. I think misery is underrated. There's so much value in that. You can't have one without the other.

Happiness is a talent like any other. It's another art form. Some people are good at it, some people aren't.

And if there's love, you can do without happiness too. Even with sorrow, life is sweet.

The trick is not how much pain you feel--but how much joy you feel. Any idiot can feel pain. Life is full of excuses to feel pain, excuses not to live, excuses, excuses, excuses.

Happiness is not a reward - it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment - it is a result.

You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.

It is not a sin to be happy, it is not a virtue to be miserable.

A minute to smile and an hour to weep in, A pint of joy to a peck of trouble, And never a laugh but the moans come double; And that is life!

I've had happy moments in my life, but I don't think that happiness-- being happy-- is a perpetual state that anyone can be in. Life isn't that way.

Life without laughing is a dreary blank.

Gratitude incorporates both the heart and mind, and instantly paves the shortest road to happiness.

The secret of joy is the mastery of pain.

For ages happiness has been represented as a huge precious stone, impossible to find, which people seek for hopelessly. It is not so; happiness is a mosaic, composed of a thousand little stones, which separately and of themselves have little value, but which united with art form a graceful design.

Unfortunately, it is much easier to shut one's eyes to good than to evil. Pain and sorrow knock at our doors more loudly than pleasure and happiness; and the prints of their heavy footsteps are less easily effaced.

Learn weeping, and thou shalt laugh gaining.

Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think.