This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

George Bernard Shaw

There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.

Aeschylus

Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.

Mother Teresa

Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing.

William Shakespeare

The most profound joy has more of gravity than of gaiety in it.

Michel de Montaigne

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Talk of joy: there may be things better than beef stew and baked potatoes and home-made bread - there may be.

David Gayson

There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.

Jean Paul Richter

May your walls know joy; May every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility.

Maryanne Radmacher Hershey

There is no time like the pleasant.

Oliver Herford

In a restaurant one is both observed and unobserved. Joy and sorrow can be displayed and observed "unwittingly," the writer scowling naively and the diners wondering, What the hell is he doing?

David Mamet

When I'm on stage, I'm trying to do one thing: bring people joy. Just like church does. People don't go to church to find trouble, they go there to lose it.

James Brown

I feel like a tiny bird with a big song!

Jerry Van Amerongen

Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.

Sir Wilfred Grenfell

My mind to me a kingdom is, Such present joys therein I find, That it excels all other bliss.

Sir Edward Dyer

Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing.

Phil Jackson

I'm delirious with joy. It proves that if you confront the universe with good intentions in your heart, it will reflect that and reward your intent. Usually. It just doesn't always do it in the way you expect.

J. Michael Straczynski

I found more joy in sorrow than you could find in joy.

Sara Teasdale

Give not over thy soul to sorrow; and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. Gladness of heart is the life of man and the joyfulness of man is length of days.

Ecclesiastes

Short is the joy that guilty pleasure brings.

Euripides

There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone's life.

Sister Mary Rose McGeady

The only joy in the world is to begin.

Cesare Pavese

When you jump for joy, beware that no one moves the ground from beneath your feet.

Stanislaw J. Lec

There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is an alchemy in sorrow. It can be transmuted into wisdom, which, if it does not bring joy, can yet bring happiness.

Pearl S. Buck

Do not judge men by mere appearances; for the light laughter that bubbles on the lip often mantles over the depths of sadness, and the serious look may be the sober veil that covers a divine peace and joy.

Edward Chapin

Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how.

James Russell Lowell

Never trust the man who tells you all his troubles but keeps from you all his joys.

Jewish Proverb

Sorrow is brief but joy is endless.

Friedrich von Schiller

Taking joy in life is a woman's best cosmetic.

Rosalind Russell

One of the greatest joys known to man is to take a flight into ignorance in search of knowledge.

Robert Lynd

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.

Mark Twain

Cease, every joy, to glimmer on my mind, But leave---oh! leave the light of Hope behind.

Thomas Campbell

Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art. They seem to be the purpose of God for his whole creation.

Richard Holloway

Joy is not in things; it is in us.

Richard Wagner

The joy of a spirit is the measure of its power.

Ninon de Lenclos

My mind to me a kingdom is; Such present joys therein I find that it excels all other bliss that earth affords or grows by kind.

Sir Edward Dyer

All human joys are swift of wing, For heaven doth so allot it; That when you get an easy thing, You find you haven't got it.

Eugene Field