Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

People don't understand what happiness is, so they have an idea of what will make them happy, but it never does.

Happiness is the longing for repetition.

I wish people could achieve what they think would bring them happiness in order for them to realize that that's not really what happiness is.

If I had known what it would be like to have it all - I might have been willing to settle for less.

Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.

We're surrounded by wonder, and yet we want more, and we want it bigger, faster, louder, better.

When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, 'Oh yes - I already have everything that I really need.'

It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got.

There is no end of craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment.

Only he who desires is amiable and not he who is satiated.

Man never thinks himself happy, but when he enjoys those things which others want or desire.

I can't think of anything I want and need that I don't already have but at the same time, I'm not sated.

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.

You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

Joy is not the result of getting what you want; it is the way to get what you want. In the deepest sense, joy is what you want.

Don't sit and wish for some ideal; the grass is not always greener with the big house and cars and artwork.

Once one feels content about what one has, then humiliation does not arise. If one could never feel content, one would never even get what one wished to have.

I think people who sit around and are always yearning for the next thing are not always the happiest people.

It seems like a lot of people seek their peace in things. And most of us are not even satisfied with the things we have... we always want more.

Americans are good at pursuing happiness. And the Americans who pursue happiness most diligently show that we're also good at running it down and killing it.

Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it.

It's wonderful to see someone you love get what they wanted.

As much as you love a sport, I don't think love and joy necessarily go hand in hand. I think you can still be in love with the sport but just not happy in it.