Catherine the Great

In my position you have to read when you want to write and to talk when you would like to read.

In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions.

It is better to inspire a reform than to enforce it.

Madame, you must be gay; only thus can life be endured. I speak from experience for I have had to endure much, and have only been able to endure it because I have always laughed whenever I had the chance.

God, grant us our desires, and grant them quickly.

Your wit makes others witty.

Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.

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

The truth is that all of us can attain the greatest success and happiness possible in this life whenever we use our native capacities to its greatest extent.

When I hold you in my arms and I feel my finger on your trigger I know no one can do me no harm because happiness is a warm gun.

Happiness is unrepentant pleasure.

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved – loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.

Let’s make ourselves happy

The intense happiness of our union is derived in a high degree from the perfect freedom with which we each follow and declare our own impressions.

A happy life is just a string of happy moments. But most people don’t allow the happy moment, because they’re so busy trying to get a happy life.

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.

Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won’t have to haunt for happiness

The secret of happiness? Live life in the slow lane.

Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.

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.