65 happy quotes to brighten every day

Life can often feel like a boxing match.

Sometimes we’re the ones throwing the punches, knocking down our goals and blocking negative thoughts with ease. Other times it feels like we just keep getting hit on all sides — by obstacles or our inner critic — and can barely stand on our own two feet.

Take heart, the fight’s not over yet and research shows it’s actually extremely advantageous to train your mind to think positive thoughts.

Cultivating happiness can have a lasting impact on your wellbeing. A 2009 study demonstrated that positive emotions improve both your satisfaction in life and your capacity for resilience.

The health benefits of internalizing positive affirmations, adopting a growth mindset and cultivating confidence include a stronger immune system, reduced risk of death linked to cancer, stroke or cardiovascular disease or a stroke, and a longer life span, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Of course, being happy is easier said than done. In those moments when you feel most defeated, happiness can seem distant and impossible to reach.

Whether you need comfort during tough times or inspiration during mundane days, these wise words about happiness will remind you of the good things in life.

For these reasons and more (who doesn’t appreciate a good reframe, right?), we’ve assembled a list of happy quotes to keep in your corner, no matter your mood, circumstance or season of life.

May these edifying truths offer light if you’re in a dark place, add an extra dash of sparkle if you’re already shining or provide a mini script to pull another out of an emotional pit.

Best happy quotes to brighten your day

• "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." ― Dalai Lama

• "Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." — Marcel Proust

• "Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others." — Martin Luther King, Jr.

• “It’s the moments that I stopped just to be, rather than do, that have given me true happiness.” — Richard Branson

• “You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.” — Joyce Meyer

• "People always say, ‘But you always look so happy.’ Well that’s Botox! Nobody’s happy all the time. But I work hard at it." — Dolly Parton

• “True happiness... is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”­ ― Helen Keller

• "Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more." ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

• "The only thing that will make you happy is being happy with who you are, and not who people think you are." — Goldie Hawn

• "Don’t ruin a good today by thinking about a bad yesterday. Let it go." ― Hoda Kotb, "I Really Needed This Today: Words to Live By"

• "The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up." — Mark Twain

• "Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you’ll start to see a big difference in your life." — Yoko Ono

• "There is only one enduring happiness in life—to live for others." — Leo Tolstoy

• "A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness." — Bernard de Fontenelle

• "It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness." — Charles Spurgeon

• "The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things." — Epictetus

• "Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." — Franklin D. Roosevelt

• "I try to treat whoever I meet as an old friend. This gives me a genuine feeling of happiness. It is the practice of compassion." — Dalai Lama

• “True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice.” — Ben Jonson

• "Want nothing but the best for your friends because when your friends are happy and successful, it’s probably going to be easier for you to be happy." — Roxane Gay, "Bad Feminist"

• "Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you." — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

• "You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." — Albert Camus

• "Take responsibility of your own happiness, never put it in other people’s hands." — Roy T. Bennet, "The Light in the Heart"

• "Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud." — Maya Angelou

• "The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings." — Robert Louis Stevenson, "Happy Thought"

• “Happiness is not a goal ... it’s a by-product.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

• "When unhappy, one doubts everything; when happy, one doubts nothing."― Joseph Roux

• “If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the world belongs to you.” — Lao Tzu

• "Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind." — Daphne du Maurier, "Rebecca"

• "Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you." — Mary Lou Retton

• "If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours." — Dolly Parton

• "The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances." —  Martha Washington

• "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."― Mahatma Gandhi

• "No medicine cures what happiness cannot."― Gabriel García Márquez

• "I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery — air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, 'This is what it is to be happy.'" ― Sylvia Plath, "The Bell Jar"

• "It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.” — L.M. Montgomery, "Anne of Green Gables"

• “Happiness is like the mountain summit. It is sometimes hidden by clouds, but we know it is there.” — Helen Keller

• "Let anyone who comes to you go away feeling better and happier." ― Mother Teresa

• "I’d far rather be happy than right any day." — Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy"

• "I’m choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I’m making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises." — Elizabeth Gilbert, "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia"

• "One reason that cats are happier than people is that they have no newspapers." — Gwendolyn Brooks

• “You can’t be happy unless you’re unhappy sometimes.” ―Lauren Oliver, “Delirium”

• “Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ― Robert Brault

• "I think happiness is what makes you pretty. Period. Happy people are beautiful. They become like a mirror and they reflect that happiness." ― Drew Barrymore

• "I would always rather be happy than dignified." — Charlotte Brontë, "Jane Eyre"

• "The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open." — Chuck Palahniuk

• "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." ― Dalai Lama

• “Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” ― Steve Maraboli

• "We should always make time for the things we like. If we don’t, we might forget how to be happy." ― T.J. Klune, "The House in the Cerulean Sea"

• "The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us." — Ashley Montagu

• “There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” — Amanda Gorman

• “We’re all rough drafts of the people we’re still becoming.” — Bob Goff

• “The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.” — James Oppenheim

• “The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.” — Louisa May Alcott

• “Unbroken happiness is a bore: It should have ups and downs.”―Molière

• “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”― Galatians 6:9

• “No such thing as a life that’s better than yours (love yours).”― J. Cole, “Love Yourz”

• “Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness.”― Ayn Rand

• “If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams, and you will always look lovely.”― Roald Dahl

• “I have chosen to be happy because it’s good for my health.”―Voltaire

• “They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: Someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”― Tom Bodett

• "If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”― Maya Angelou

• “Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”― Abraham Lincoln

• “The surest way to be happy is to seek happiness in others.”― Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”― Omar Khayyam

This article was originally published on TODAY.com