Edith Wharton Happiness Quotations

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.

Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive.

What is one's personality, detached from that of the friends with whom fate happens to have linked one? I cannot think of myself apart from the influence of the two or three greatest friendships of my life, and any account of my own growth must be that of their stimulating and enlightening influence.

There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.

In our hurried world too little value is attached to the part of the connoisseur and dilettante.

There are lots of ways of being miserable, but there's only one way of being comfortable, and that is to stop running round after happiness. If you make up your mind not to be happy there's no reason why you shouldn't have a fairly good time.

I feel as if I could trust my happiness to carry me; as if it had grown out of me like wings.

Happiness is a work of art. Handle with care.

They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods