Ajahn Chah

You are your own teacher. Investigate yourself to find the truth – inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important.

What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers, and are famous preservers of good looks.

The unhappiest man on earth is the one who has nothing to do.

Happiness isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. You must define what it looks like for you and then make a conscious effort to access whatever gets you to your unique definition of joy.

Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.

Happiness is not a goal…it’s a by-product of a life well lived.

Don’t worry, be happy!

It isn’t necessary to be rich and famous to be happy, it’s only necessary to be rich.

One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.

We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.

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

How often, for example, have you said or heard someone else say, “All I really want in this life is to be happy”? It sounds like a commonsense answer, but as a life goal, it is destined for failure. My dog, Barkley, wants to be happy. Does that mean that the two of you want the same things? I don’t think so. I’ll bet everything I own that you and Barkley define happiness very differently. So unless you’re willing to settle for someone scratching your belly and letting you sleep under the coffee table, you might want to be a little more precise about what you as a unique individual really want.