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Joy quotes

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“Excess of joy is harder to bear than any amount of sorrow.” Honoré de Balzac, “Letters of Two Brides” - 1841

“A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live.” Bertrand Russell, “The Conquest of Happiness” - 1930

“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much.” William Shakespeare, “Much Ado About Nothing” - 1600

“Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.” Mark Twain, “Following the Equator” - 1897

“How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!” William Shakespeare, “Much Ado About Nothing” - 1600

“Joy and grief were mingled in the cup; but there were no bitter tears: for even grief itself arose so softened, and clothed in such sweet and tender recollections, that it became a solemn pleasure, and lost all character of pain.” Charles Dickens, “Oliver Twist” - 1838

“Anyhow there was no bitterness in her; none of that sense of moral virtue which is so repulsive in good women. She enjoyed practically everything.” Virginia Woolf, “Mrs Dalloway” - 1925

“It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.” L. Frank Baum, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” - 1900

“My days are as happy as those reserved by God for his elect; and, whatever be my fate hereafter, I can never say that I have not tasted joy,—the purest joy of life.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” - 1774

“It is only in the act of nursing that a woman realizes her motherhood in visible and tangible fashion; it is a joy of every moment.” Honoré de Balzac, “Letters of Two Brides” - 1841

“A mother's life, you see, is one long succession of dramas, now soft and tender, now terrible. Not an hour but has its joys and fears.” Honoré de Balzac, “Letters of Two Brides” - 1841

“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“How could he rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.” Samuel Johnson, “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia” - 1759

“I live in the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself, and am only loud and merry to conceal my sadness.” Samuel Johnson, “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia” - 1759

“Suddenly he knew joy and sorrow felted into one fabric. Courage and fear were one thing too.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“Do anything, but let it produce joy. Do anything, but let it yield ecstasy.” Henry Miller, “Tropic of Cancer” - 1934

“There is thus an organic affinity between joyousness and tenderness, and their companionship in the saintly life need in no way occasion surprise.” William James, “The Varieties of Religious Experience” - 1902

“I see a repose that neither earth nor hell can break, and I feel an assurance of the endless and shadowless hereafter—the Eternity they have entered—where life is boundless in its duration, and love in its sympathy, and joy in its fulness.” Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights” - 1847

“May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.” Pope Francis, “Laudato si'” - 24 May 2015

“What I know for sure is that every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and step out and dance—to live free of regret and filled with as much joy, fun, and laughter as you can stand.” Oprah Winfrey, “What I Know For Sure” - 2014

Related topics

life fear happiness sadness grief sorrow pain love courage care mother virtue hope crying woman fun silence sharing victory bitterness

Related authors

Honoré de Balzac (3)
William Shakespeare (2)
Lao Tzu (2)
Samuel Johnson (2)
Mark Twain (1)
Charles Dickens (1)
Virginia Woolf (1)
Bertrand Russell (1)
L. Frank Baum (1)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1)
John Steinbeck (1)
Henry Miller (1)
William James (1)
Emily Brontë (1)
Pope Francis (1)
Oprah Winfrey (1)

Related sources

Letters of Two Brides (3)
Much Ado About Nothing (2)
Tao Te Ching (2)
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (2)
Oliver Twist (1)
Mrs Dalloway (1)
The Conquest of Happiness (1)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (1)
East of Eden (1)
Tropic of Cancer (1)
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1)
Wuthering Heights (1)
Laudato si' (1)
What I Know For Sure (1)
Following the Equator (1)