Michael William McCarthy
2 min readMar 16, 2024

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What is the meaning of life? To be happy?

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

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness. — Frank Tyger

There is more to life than increasing its speed. — Mahatma Gandhi

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be. — Abraham Lincoln

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

I am very happy because I have conquered myself and not the world. — Sri Chinmoy

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. — Dale Carnegie

If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more. — Roy T. Bennett

You can only have bliss if you don’t chase it. — Henepola Gunaratana

The constant happiness is curiosity. — Alice Munro

Expecting life to treat you well because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian. — Shari R. Barr

Be happy. It really annoys negative people. — Ricky Gervais

Happiness is not a goal: it is a by-product. — Unknown

Happiness: A butterfly, which when pursued, seems always just beyond your grasp; but if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you. — Daily Crescent

There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations. — Jodi Picoult

Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever. — Peter Hagerty

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

I think for me, happiness is crucial, but I think we think that happiness comes from amassing goods and getting things and being loved and being successful, when in fact my experience of happiness comes when you give everything away, when you serve people, when you’re watching something you do make somebody happy — that’s when happiness happens. — Eve Ensler

The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment. — Doug Larson

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Michael William McCarthy

Michael is the author of Better than Snarge, Amazing Adventures and Transformative Travel. He lives in Vancouver where he types funny books using two fingers.