Happiness Equals Reality Minus Expectations

HAPPINESS is not a goal, it is a by-product.

Happiness is the abscence of the striving for happiness.

All happiness is of a negative rather than positive nature, and for this reason cannot give lasting satisfaction and gratification, but rather only ever a release from a pain or lack, which must be followed either by a new pain or by languor, empty yearning and boredom.

The first rule of happiness is low expectations

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

Happiness is simply the absence of desire. When you observe a cue, but do not desire to change your state, you are content with the current situation. Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently.

Happiness doesn't always come from a pursuit. Sometimes it comes when we least expect it.

No, the opposite of happiness is hopelessness, an endless gray horizon of resignation and indifference.3 It’s the belief that everything is fucked, so why do anything at all?

Happiness is not a reward - it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment - it is a result.

The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.

Instead of expecting all and being lowered into despair each time I get less, I expect nothing now and, occasionally, I get a little, and am more than a little happy.

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.

Happiness does not come from consumption of things.