Inspiring Quotes on Finding Joy in Life
Joy is an elusive emotion that many seek but few truly grasp. How does one find joy in life when surrounded by hardship, monotony, and suffering?
The answer lies in perspective – choosing to see the beauty rather than the ugliness, expressing gratitude instead of complaint, and living in each moment rather than dwelling on the past or future.
In this blog post, we are sharing 60 inspirational quotes that reveal, joy is available to all who make the choice to see it. By focusing on the present, praising life’s gifts, and defiantly embracing optimism, we can cultivate an inner contentment that circumstances cannot take away.
The sages, writers, and thinkers quoted here remind us that joy is always closer than we imagine. We need only the wisdom to grasp it and the will to see life through its lens.
Here are 60 inspiring quotes on finding joy in life:
- “Joy is not in things; it is in us.” – Richard Wagner
- Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” – Jim Rohn
- “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” – Henri Nouwen
- “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” – Karl Barth
- “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” – Christopher McCandless
- “Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” – Marianne Williamson
- “Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.” – Earl Nightingale
- “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” – Henri Nouwen
- “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
- “Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” – Jim Rohn
- “The most wasted of days is one without laughter.” – E.E. Cummings
- “Joy is prayer – joy is strength – joy is love – joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” – Mother Teresa
- “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
- “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle
- “Count your blessings, not your burdens.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
- The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” – Karl Barth
- “Our joy can be profound precisely because the world does not provide it for us.” – Jonathan Haidt
- “When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” – Rumi
- “Joy is prayer. Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” – Mother Teresa
- “I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.” – Anne Frank
- “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Joy is the ultimate act of defiance against hardship and pain.” – Lisa Bevere
- “However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” – Marianne Williamson
- “Joy is not made to be a crumb.” – Mary Oliver
- “The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- “Let your joy be in your journey, not in some distant goal.” – Tim Cook
- “Joy is the best makeup.” – Anne Lamott
- “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
- “Joy is not in things; it is in us.” – Richard Wagner
- “Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- “Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it or change it.” – Chuck Palahniuk
- “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” – E.E. Cummings
- “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” – Henri Nouwen
- “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
- “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” – Christopher McCandless
- “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault
- “The root of joy is gratefulness.” – David Steindl-Rast
- “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
- “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get, you’ve got to make yourself.” – Alice Walker
- “The joy of living is the main cause of happiness.” – Samuel Johnson
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “There is no joy in possession without sharing.” – Erasmus
- “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
- “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” – Karl Barth
- “The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” – Allan K. Chalmers
- “If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment.” – Carlos Santana
- “The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage.” – Thucydides
- “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn
- “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” – Mother Teresa
- “True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- “The greatest joy you can have is doing something for another.” – Sir Walter Raleigh
- “Life is short, and it’s up to you to make it sweet.” – Sarah Louise Delany
- “Joy is a decision, a really brave one, about how you are going to respond to life.” – Wess Stafford
- “It is not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do that is the secret of happiness.” – J.M. Barrie
- “Happiness is a state of mind. It’s just according to the way you look at things.” – Walt Disney
- “Joy is not in things; it is in us.” – Richard Wagner
These quotes can serve as reminders to find joy in the everyday moments and to prioritize happiness in your life. Check out here for more quotes about happiness and psychology.