Quotes About Opportunity And Happiness

“I am not a perfectionist ... if you believe that your best is good enough, you will find happiness. The unknown can be exciting and full of opportunity but you have to be involved and you have to be able to evolve.”

— Alice Bag

“To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness.”

— John Dewey

“Don't waste an opportunity for happiness. Just be wise.”

— Carolyn Brown

“Every restaurant is a theater, and the truly great ones allow us to indulge in the fantasy that we are rich and powerful. When restaurants hold up their end of the bargain, they give us the illusion of being surrounded by servants intent on ensuring our happiness and offering extraordinary food.
But even modest restaurants offer the opportunity to become someone else, at least for a little while. Restaurants free us from mundane reality; that is part of their charm. When you walk through the door, you are entering neutral territory where you are free to be whoever you choose for the duration of the meal.”

— Ruth Reichl

“Buy Experiences Not Goods. Want to buy happiness? Then spend your hard-earned cash on experiences. Go out for a meal. Go to a concert, cinema or theatre. Go on holiday. Go and learn how to pole dance. Go paintballing. Go bungee jumping. In fact, get involved in anything that provides an opportunity to do things with others, and then tell even more people about it afterwards. When it comes to happiness, remember that it is experiences that represent really good value for money.”

— Richard Wiseman

“As Christians, we needn't be at all ashamed of some impatience, longing, opposition to what is unnatural, and our full share of desire for freedom, earthly happiness, and opportunity for effective work.”

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Oftentimes you give others the opportunity to create your happiness, and many times they fail to create it the way you want it. Why? Because only one person can be in charge of your joy, of your bliss, and that's you. So even your parent, your child, your spouse-they do not have the control to create your happiness. They simply have the opportunity to share in your happiness. Your joy lies within you.”

— Rhonda Byrne

“Often the deep valleys of our PRESENT will be UNDERSTOOD only by LOOKING BACK on them from the mountains of our FUTURE experience. Often we can't see the LORD'S HAND in our lives until long after the trials have passed. Often the most difficult times of our lives are ESSENTIAL building blocks that form the FOUNDATION of our CHARACTER and pave the way to FUTURE opportunity, understanding, and happiness.”

— Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“This universe is shot through with mystery. The very fact of its being, and of our own, is a mystery absolute, and the only miracle worthy of the name. The consciousness that animates us is itself central to this mystery and the ground for any experience we might wish to call 'spiritual.' No myths need be embraced for us to commune with the profundity of our circumstance. No personal God need be worshiped for us to live in awe at the beauty and immensity of creation. No tribal fictions need be rehearsed for us to realize, one fine day, that we do, in fact, love our neighbors, that our happiness is inextricable from their own, and that our interdependence demands that people everywhere be given the opportunity to flourish.”

— Sam Harris

“'Utopia' is a positive and constructive program that gives people the opportunity, if you can start all over again, start from scratch and create laws and make decisions, will you be able to build a society that is better than the one we have; will it be chaos or happiness.”

— John De Mol, Jr.

“Democracy rests upon two pillars: one, the principle that all men are equally entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and the other, the conviction that such equal opportunity will most advance civilization.”

— Louis D. Brandeis

“Inside every adult there's still a child that lingers. We're happiness merchants - giving people the opportunity to dream like children.”

— Guy Laliberte

“I learned that people everywhere are basically the same and have similar goals that we do. They want health and happiness and the opportunity to provide for their families.”

— Steve Kerr

“Elinor now found the difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event, however certain the mind may be told to consider it, and certainty itself. She now found that, in spite of herself, she had always admitted a hope, while Edward remained single, that something would occur to prevent his marrying Lucy; that some resolution of his own, some mediation of friends, or some more eligible opportunity of establishment for the lady, would arise to assist the happiness of all. But he was now married; and she condemned her heart for the lurking flattery which so much heightened the pain of the intelligence.”

— Jane Austen

“I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness.”

— Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“Love, true love, love that denies itself and transfers itself to another, is the awakening within oneself of the highest universal principle of life. But it is only true love and affords all the happiness it can give when it is simply love, free from anything personal, from the smallest drop of personal bias towards its object. And such love can only be felt for one's enemy, for those who hate and offend. Thus, the injunction to love not those who love us, but those who hate us, is not an exaggeration, nor an indication of possible exclusions, but simply a directive for that opportunity and possibility of receiving the supreme bliss that love can give.”

— Leo Tolstoy

“Your happiness, you're wasting your time. You must be fearless enough to give yourself the love you didn't receive. Begin noticing how every day brings a new opportunity for your growth. How buried disagreements with your mother show up in arguments with your spouse. How unconscious feelings of unworthiness appear in everything you do (and don't do). All these experiences are your life's way of urging you to leave the past behind and make yourself whole. Pay attention. Every choice gives you a chance to pave your own road. Keep moving. Full speed ahead.”

— Oprah Winfrey

“America offers the most amount of people the best opportunity to pursue happiness on the planet. That's why millions of illegal immigrants have poured into the country - most of them poor. They believe they have a shot to improve themselves economically.”

— Bill O'Reilly

“"Hence," goes on the professor, "definitions of happiness are interesting." I suppose the best thing to do with that is to let is pass. Me, I never saw a definition of happiness that could detain me after train-time, but that may be a matter of lack of opportunity, of inattention, or of congenital rough luck. If definitions of happiness can keep Professor Phelps on his toes, that is little short of dandy. We might just as well get on along to the next statement, which goes like this: "One of the best" (we are still on definitions of happiness) "was given in my Senior year at college by Professor Timothy Dwight: 'The happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts.'" Promptly one starts recalling such Happiness Boys as Nietzche, Socrates, de Maupassant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, William Blake, and Poe."
-Review of the book, Happiness, by (Professor) William Lyon Phelps. Review title: The Professor Goes in for Sweetness and Light; November 5, 1927”

— Dorothy Parker

“When I was growing up, I don't remember being told that America was created so that everyone could get rich. I remember being told it was about opportunity and the pursuit of happiness. Not happiness itself, but the pursuit.”

— Martin Scorsese

“We have the opportunity to get an education and make something of ourselves. We have many reasons to hope for great happiness, but we have to earn it. And that is something you can't achieve by taking the easy ways out. Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy.”

— Anne Frank

“I really love being alive. I love my family and my work. I love the opportunity I have to do things. That's what happiness is.”

— Michael J. Fox

“The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.”

— William Ellery Channing

“One of the advantages of living in a constitutional federal republic
is that we have the ability, if not the duty, as citizens to repair or
replace those acts of legislation under which we have agreed to live.
We must act when it has become evident that said legislation
no longer serves us as a people or advances the principles upon
which this nation was founded, one of these being "the pursuit of
happiness," which may only be secured through wealth creation.
If it burdens the debt obligation of the government, it cannot
be creating wealth. If it does not advance the cause of regaining
American competitive dominance in the global marketplace, it is not
creating wealth. If legislation and regulation were proposed that
taught people how to fish instead of providing fish, then the unemployed
would find a way to create jobs for each other. Wealth
creation is mankind's natural objective when given the opportunity
and the tools.”

— Ziad K. Abdelnour

“Our notions about happiness entrap us. We forget that they are just ideas. Our idea of happiness can prevent us from actually being happy. We fail to see the opportunity for joy that is right in front of us when we are caught in a belief that happiness should take a particular form.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

“Life never was intended to be easy. Rather, it is a period of proving and growth. It is interwoven with difficulties, challenges, and burdens. We are immersed in a sea of persistent, worldly pressures that could destroy our happiness. Yet these very forces, if squarely faced, provide opportunity for tremendous personal growth and development. The conquering of adversity produces strength of character, forges self-confidence, engenders self-respect, and assures success in righteous endeavor.”

— Richard G. Scott

“But if you learn to really sit with that loneliness and embrace it as the gift that it is-an opportunity to get to know yourself, to learn how strong you really are, to depend on no one but yourself for your happiness-you will realize that a little loneliness goes a long way in creating a richer, deeper, more vibrant and colorful you.”

— Mandy Hale

“If you're wondering when you should give to or serve someone else, I believe in doing it spontaneously, perhaps in a shared moment of emotion. Or any time you feel like someone needs your support. Whether you do it all the time, occasionally, or when the opportunity arises, just do it. Reach out and give of yourself and your time. I have seen, time and again, that happiness and enjoyment arise from being of service in simple ways.”

— Lucinda Bassett

“The secret to my own happiness, my own good future, is within my own hands. I must not miss that opportunity!”

— Dalai Lama XIV

“Happiness is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes. If you find it, please, don't take it for granted. If you Happen to stray from it, don't let negative obstacles overcome you. Anger and rage only detour you from your final objectives. The future holds nothing but opportunity, and good things happen to good people I promise”

— Jeff Hardy

“Retirement is the last opportunity for individuals to reinvent themselves, let go of the past, and find peace and happiness within.”

— Ernie J Zelinski

“It suddenly hit me-it was nearly impossible to take good care of something I hated. I'd spent so long hating my body that I didn't know how to respect and nurture myself or my body. By focusing so much on my exterior, I also robbed myself of the opportunity to feel good about myself and my body, simply because I didn't meet a cultural standard of beauty that is obsessed with thinness. That created stress that interfered with my weight loss and with my own happiness.”

— Jessica Ortner

“Happiness is a choice we make. You can wake up and say, 'Oh, I can't believe it's so cold,' or you can say, 'Oh, wow, this is a great opportunity for me to try out my new sweater.' No one can be consistently positive, but why not make the choice that makes you feel better rather than the one that drags you down?”

— Miranda Kerr

“Nature has given the opportunity of happiness to all, knew they but how to use it.”

— Claudius Claudianus

“We tell ourselves that the more time we have at our disposal, the more opportunity we will have of finding greater happiness. But again we are looking to the future, to the times we will create. Again we miss the enjoyment of the present moment.”

— Russell Peters

“So far as laws and institutions avail, men should have equality of opportunity for happiness; that is, of education, wealth, power. These make happiness secure. An equal diffusion of happiness so far as laws and institutions avail.”

— Rutherford B. Hayes

“I'll say it again, for every moment you're with the wrong person, you are robbing yourself and the right person of the opportunity to find real happiness.”

— Ingrid Weir

“[Children should contribute] to a family's essential survival and happiness. [In] an urban society, children are ... robbed of the opportunity to do genuinely responsible work.”

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

“When your happiness comes primarily from the happiness of others, you know you have moved from a 'me' experience to a 'we' experience. And the whole problem-solving and opportunity-seizing process changes.”

— Stephen Covey

“The goal of this generation's pioneers should be to restrict procreation and limit consumption. They should also take every opportunity to make themselves happy, realizing that the key to self-generated happiness (the only reliable kind) is the refusal to take oneself too seriously.”

— Tom Robbins

“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee 78 requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

— George Washington

“I don't feel any vulgar gratitude to you[for helping me]. I almost feel as if You ought to be grateful to ME, for giving you the opportunity of enjoying the luxury of generosity ... I may have come into the world expressly for the purpose of increasing your stock of happiness. I may have been born to be a benefactor to you, by giving you an opportunity of assisting me.”

— Charles Dickens

“Historians desiring to write the actions of men, ought to set down the simple truth, and not say anything for love or hatred; also to choose such an opportunity for writing as it may be lawful to think what they will, and write what they think, which is a rare happiness of the time.”

— Walter Raleigh

“If you know what's going on and know how society can be improved and happiness advanced, you tend to focus on how to get things done that will help health, safety, opportunity, justice, accountability of powerful institutions to the people they are supposed to serve.”

— Ralph Nader

“Happiness, the goal to which we all are striving is reached by endeavoring to make the lives of others happy, and if by renouncing the luxuries of life we can lighten the burdens of others ... surely the simplification of our wants is a thing greatly to be desired! And so, if instead of supposing that we must become hermits and dwellers in caves in order to practice simplicity, we set about simplifying our affairs, each according to his own convictions and opportunity, much good will result and the simple life will at once be established.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

“At a fundamental level, as human beings, we are all the same; each one of us aspires to happiness and each one of us does not wish to suffer. This is why, whenever I have the opportunity, I try to draw people's attention to what as members of the human family we have in common and the deeply interconnected nature of our existence and welfare.”

— Dalai Lama