29 Top Quotes From The Art of Happiness

What is The Art of Happiness About?

The Art of Happiness is a personal development guide for a western audience, combining the Dalai Lama's eastern spiritual tradition with Dr Howard C. Cutler's western perspective. Covering all key areas of human experience, they apply the principles of Tibetan Buddhism to everyday problems and reveal how one can find balance and complete spiritual and mental freedom.

The Art of Happiness main argument is that happiness is determined more by the state of one's mind than by one's external conditions, circumstances, or events (at least once one's basic survival needs are met) and that happiness can be achieved through the systematic training of our hearts and minds. (The Art of Happiness Summary)

The Art of Happiness Quotes

1. [Favorite Quote]: "It’s the very struggle of life that makes us who we are. And it is our enemies that test us, provide us with the resistance necessary for growth.”

2. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

3. "If we carefully examine any given situation in a very unbiased and honest way, we will realize that to a large extent we are also responsible for the unfolding of events."

4. “A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”

5. "People tend to expect the other person to respond to them in a positive way first, rather than taking the initiative themselves to create that possibility."

6. "If you can, serve other people, other sentient beings. If not, at least refrain from harming them."

7. "If the situation or problem is such that it can be remedied, then there is no need to worry about it."

8. “Although you may not always be able to avoid difficult situations,you can modify the extent to which you can suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation.”

9. "It is more sensible to spend the energy focusing on the solution rather than worrying about the problem."

10. “We need to learn how to want what we have NOT to have what we want"

11. "Being honest with oneself and others about what you are or are not capable of doing can counteract that feeling of lack of self-confidence."

12. “Happiness is determined more by one's state of mind than by external events.”

13. "It is unhappy people who tend to be most self-focused and are often socially withdrawn, brooding, and even antagonistic. Happy people, in contrast, are generally found to be more sociable, flexible, and creative and are able to tolerate life’s daily frustrations"

14. “The more honest you are, the more open, the less fear you will have, because there's no anxiety about being exposed or revealed to others.”

15. "The time and effort we spend searching for meaning in suffering will pay great rewards when bad things begin to strike. "

16. "If one is seeking to build a truly satisfying relationship, the best way of bringing this about is to get to know the deeper nature of the person and relate to her or him on that level"

17. "A tree with strong roots can withstand the most violent storm, but the tree can’t grow roots just as the storm appears on the horizon."

18. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

19. "One could define compassion as the feeling of unbearableness at the sight of other people’s suffering, other sentient beings’ suffering. And in order to generate that feeling one must first have an appreciation of the seriousness or intensity of another’s suffering. "

20. “As long as there is a lack of the inner discipline that brings calmness of mind, no matter what external facilities or conditions you have, they will never give you the feeling of joy and happiness that you are seeking"

21. “The highest happiness is when one reaches the stage of Liberation, at which there is no more suffering. That’s genuine, lasting happiness."

22. "Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable; one day it’s there, the next day it may not be.”

23. "If you can learn to develop patience and tolerance towards your enemies, then everything else becomes much easier—your compassion towards all others begins to flow naturally.”

24. "As long as we view suffering as an unnatural state, an abnormal condition that we fear, avoid, and reject, we will never uproot the causes of suffering and begin to live a happier life.”

25. "If we think about the projected injustices done to us, the ways in which we have been unfairly treated, and we keep on thinking about them over and over, then that feeds the hatred. It makes the hatred very powerful and intense."

26. "We don’t need more money, we don’t need greater success or fame, we don’t need the perfect body or even the perfect mate – right now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness.”

27. "If our wants and desires remain unchecked, sooner or later we will run up against something that we want but can’t have."

28. “if you are truly concerned about the welfare of others and building a better world, it is your duty to be happy "

29. “Our feelings of contentment are strongly influenced by our tendency to compare.”

― Quotes from the book The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama XIV

Who is the Author of The Art of Happiness?

The Art of Happiness is a book by the 14th Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, a psychiatrist who posed questions to the Dalai Lama. Howard C. Cutler is a psychiatrist and an expert in the science of human happiness.

Chief Editor

Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.