A Few Quotes on Happiness

Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy,
And whatever suffering there is in this world
All comes from desiring myself to be happy
-- Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life


If you try to subdue your selfish motives—anger and so forth—and develop kindness and compassion for others, ultimately you yourself will benefit more than you would otherwise. . . Foolish selfish people are always thinking of themselves, and the result is negative. Wise selfish people think of others, help others as much as they can, and the result is that they too receive the benefit.
-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness


There is some kind of ultimate justice or goodness in the universe. It is that goodness that we are all trying to uncover and to free. Whenever we act positively, we move toward it; whenever we act negatively, we obscure it and inhibit it. And whenever we cannot express it in our lives and actions, we feel miserable and frustrated.
--Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying