"Destiny is real. And she's not mild-mannered. She will come around and hit you in the face and knock you over and before you know what hit you, you're naked- stripped of everything you thought you knew and everything you thought you didn't know- and there you are! A bloody nose, bruises all over you, and naked. And it's the most beautiful thing."

"[F]or just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there's nothing else. It's here, and you'd better decide to enjoy it or you're going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever."

"That’s how stories happen — with a turning point, an unexpected twist. There’s only one kind of happiness, but misfortune comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story."

"Can a person steal happiness? Or is just another internal, infernal human trick?"

"When you lose your smile, you lose your way in the chaos of life."

"So he tasted the deep pain that is reserved only for the strong, just as he had tasted for a little while the deep happiness."

"Always forgive, but never forget, else you will be a prisoner of your own hatred, and doomed to repeat your mistakes forever."

"Singing in the rain. I'm singing in the rain. And it's such a fucking glorious feeling. An unexpected downpour and I am just giving myself into it. Because what the fuck else can you do? Run for cover? Shriek and curse? No--when the rain falls you just let it fall and you grin like a madman and you dance with it because if you can make yourself happy in the rain, then you're doing pretty alright in life."

"One swallow does not make a summer,neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy."

"Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life."

"Maybe happiness didn't have to be about the big, sweeping circumstances, about having everything in your life in place. Maybe it was about stringing together a bunch of small pleasures. Wearing slippers and watching the Miss Universe contest. Eating a brownie with vanilla ice cream. Getting to level seven in Dragon Master and knowing there were twenty more levels to go. Maybe happiness was just a matter of the little upticks- the traffic signal that said "Walk" the second you go there- and downticks- the itch tag at the back of your collar- that happened to every person in the course of the day. Maybe everybody had the same allotted measure of happiness within each day. maybe it didn't matter if you were a world-famous heartthrob or a painful geek. Maybe it didn't matter if your friend was possibly dying. Maybe you just got through it. Maybe that was all you could ask for."

"Pierre was right when he said that one must believe in the possibility of happiness in order to be happy, and I now believe in it. Let the dead bury the dead, but while I'm alive, I must live and be happy."

"Obscurity and a competence—that is the life that is best worth living."

"My past has not defined me, destroyed me, deterred me, or defeated me; it has only strengthened me."

"Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain."

"Changing your outside world cannot make you happy if you are an unhappy person. The real personal change can only happen from the inside out. If you firstly create the change within yourself, you can turn your life around."

"Nothing makes a person happier than having a happy heart."

"It is difficult to live in and enjoy the moment when you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future. You cannot change your past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about your future. Learn from the past, plan for the future. The more you live in and enjoy the present moment, the happier you will be."

"Why Not You?Today, many will awaken with a fresh sense of inspiration. Why not you?Today, many will open their eyes to the beauty that surrounds them. Why not you?Today, many will choose to leave the ghost of yesterday behind and seize the immeasurable power of today. Why not you?Today, many will break through the barriers of the past by looking at the blessings of the present. Why not you?Today, for many the burden of self doubt and insecurity will be lifted by the security and confidence of empowerment. Why not you?Today, many will rise above their believed limitations and make contact with their powerful innate strength. Why not you?Today, many will choose to live in such a manner that they will be a positive role model for their children. Why not you?Today, many will choose to free themselves from the personal imprisonment of their bad habits. Why not you?Today, many will choose to live free of conditions and rules governing their own happiness. Why not you?Today, many will find abundance in simplicity. Why not you?Today, many will be confronted by difficult moral choices and they will choose to do what is right instead of what is beneficial. Why not you?Today, many will decide to no longer sit back with a victim mentality, but to take charge of their lives and make positive changes. Why not you?Today, many will take the action necessary to make a difference. Why not you?Today, many will make the commitment to be a better mother, father, son, daughter, student, teacher, worker, boss, brother, sister, & so much more. Why not you?Today is a new day!Many will seize this day.Many will live it to the fullest.Why not you?"

"No one should ever ask themselves that: why am I unhappy? The question carries within it the virus that will destroy everything. If we ask that question, it means we want to find out what makes us happy. If what makes us happy is different from what we have now, then we must either change once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy."

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."

"Life is not a PG feel-good movie. Real life often ends badly. Literature tries to document this reality, while showing us it is still possible for us to endure nobly."