Wilhelm von Humboldt Quotes

It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed.

Acceptance means no complaining, and happiness means no complaining about the things over which you can do nothing.

I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?

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

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

Happiness is allowing yourself to be okay with what is, rather than wishing for, and bemoaning, what is not. Obviously, what is is what is supposed to be, or it would not be. The rest is just you, arguing with life.

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.

The art of life consists in taking each event which befalls us with a contented mind, confident of good. ... With this method ... rejoice always, though in the midst of sorrows, and possess all things, though destitute of everything.

The best philosophy is to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one's lot; bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness with it.

Do what you can to do what you ought, and leave hoping and fearing alone.

Those who are unconquered in spirit are the real successes in life. If you can so train or condition your mind that you are content regardless of what you have or do not have, and if you can stand the challenge of all your trials and remain calm-that is true happiness.

Unhappy am I because this has happened to me.- Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.

There is no failure in life. It all depends how you take things. If you are desiring too much - you want to reach too high, and you cannot - then there is frustration and failure. But if you are not desiring anything and you are perfectly happy wherever you are, life is moment-to-moment victory.

Anyone who found the secret of rejoicing when things go well without being annoyed when they go badly would have found the point.

Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible be daily before your eyes, but chiefly death, and you win never entertain any abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything.

Success may be the ability to be happy with whatever we're stuck with.

When we ... devote ourselves to the strict and unsparing performance of duty, ihen happiness comes of itself.

Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine, The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine. Not heaven itself upon the past has power; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

I endeavor to drink deep of philosophy, and to be wise when I cannot be merry, easy when I cannot be glad, content with what cannot be mended, and patient where there is no redress. The mighty can do no more, and the wise seldom do as much. ... I am resolved to make the best of all circumstances around me, that this short life may not be half lost in pains ... Between the periods of birth and burial, I would fain insert a little happiness, a little pleasure, a little peace: to-day is ours, yesterday is past, and to-morrow may never come.

Would all, who cherish such wild wishes, but look around them, they would oftenest find their sphere of duty, of prosperity, and happiness, within those precincts, and in that station where Providence itself has cast their lot. Happy they who read the riddle without a weary world-search, or a lifetime spent in vain!

Control the things you can control. As for the rest - God bless it all.

I think perfect happiness has everything to do with learning to be content with what I have.

I've learned since childhood that you control only the things that you can control. Everything else, let it take care of itself.

My only intention is to be happy and be in a place where I feel wanted.

My life... I'm really happy with what I've got. If I get more things, I will be happy, but if not, I won't be frustrated.