There is no fire like greed, No crime like hatred, No sorrow like separation, No sickness like hunger of heart, And no joy like the joy of freedom. Health, contentment and trust Are your greatest possessions, And freedom your greatest joy. Look within. Be Still. Free from fear and attachment, Know the sweet joy of living in the way. --The Buddha – from the Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byron (in Untitled)

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow. --Swedish proverb (in Untitled)

Can the joy of yesterday ever be repeated today? The desire for repetition arises only when there is no joy today; when today is empty we look to the past or the future. The desire for repetition is desire for continuity, and in continuity there is never the new. There is happiness, not in the past or the future, but only in the movement of the present. --J. Krishnamurti (in Untitled)

To be able to find joy in another's joy: that is the secret of happiness. --George Bernanos (in Untitled)

If your joy is caused by something it will disappear, it will be momentary. It will soon leave you in deep sadness; all joys leave you in deep sadness. But there is a different kind of joy that is a confirmatory sign: you are suddenly joyous for no reason at all. You cannot pinpoint why. If somebody asks "why are you so joyous?' you cannot answer. --Osho (in Untitled)

He who binds himself to a joy Doth the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in Eternity’s sun rise. --William Blake (in Untitled)

In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadows of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities and there is no joy in things that do not exist. --Thomas Merton (in Freedom in Humility)

I slept and dreamt that life was joy, I awoke and saw that life was service, I acted and, behold, service was joy. --Rahindranath Tagore (in Service as Retirement)

He who binds to himself a Joy, Does the winged life destroy; He who kisses the Joy as it flies, Lives in Eternity's sunrise. --William Blake (in Kissing Joy)

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. --Thich Nhat Hanh (in Service Spirits)

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give. --Eleanor Roosevelt (in A Child Entrepreneur Gives Back)

Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things are. Joy is not necessarily what happens when things unfold according to our plans. --Marianne Williamson (in Spontaneous Smiley Face)

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. --Rabindranath Tagore (in From Mansion to Mud Hut)

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. --Thich Nhat Hanh (in Smiles, Baseball, and Longevity)

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give. --Eleanor Roosevelt (in How to Make Giving Feel Good)

I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy. --Kahlil Gibran (in Advocacy For Altrusim)

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. ---Thich Nhat Hanh- (in Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella)

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. --Thich Nhat Hanh (in A Tribute to Mr. Happy Man)

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. --Rabindranath Tagore (in He Quit His Corporate Job to Help His City's Needy)

A burden shared is a sorrow halved. A joy shared is a joy doubled. --Anonymous (in The Dinner Party)

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. --Rabindranath Tagore (in Mercy Beyond Borders)

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. --Rabindranath Tagore (in She Transformed Her Trauma into a Path of Service)

I don't know what the future will be, but I absolutely know that joy and the things that give us joy in this world, especially the natural world, are essential for everything. --Dara McAnulty (in Finding Joy in the Unknown)

I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift --Robin Wall Kimmerer (in Soil & Spirit: Cultivation and Kinship in the Web of Life)

Experience each moment as it arrives. Create your own inner joy, for it will touch your world and you will not look back at what you could have been, but glow by who you actually are. --Amanda Gerhart (in Untitled)

All who would win joy, must share it; happiness was born a twin. --Lord Byron (in Untitled)

This is the true joy in life, being recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature instead of a feverish clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for it’s own sake; Life is no brief candle to me, it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got to hold up for a moment. I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. --George Bernard Shaw (in A Splendid Torch)

To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget. --Arundhati Roy (in Untitled)

Each day of human life contains joy and anger, pain and pleasure, darkness and light, growth and decay. Each movement is etched with nature’s grand design~ do not try to deny or oppose the cosmic order of things. --Morehei Ueshiba (founder of Aikido) (in Untitled)

An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life... He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil---he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego. The other is good -- he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too." They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." --Author Unknown (in Untitled)

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. --Kahlil Gibran (in Work is Love Made Visible)

We have to create a new synthesis where the environmental movement, the spiritual movement, and the social movement come together. We need to create a new trinity--soil, soul, and society. Soil represents the natural world. Unless we take care of the earth, we cannot take care of society. We also need to take care of the soul. Unless we’re able to seek fulfillment and joy, we won’t find peace--no matter how much money we accumulate. And then there’s social justice, which includes concern for the old, the sick, the poor, and people of different races. --Satish Kumar (in Untitled)

Whatever you do with your running, you only cheat yourself by pushing, pressing, competing. There are no standards and no possible victories except the joy you are living while dancing your run. --Fred Rohe (in Marathon Monks)

All the joy the world contains is through wishing happiness for others. All the misery the world contains has come through wanting pleasure for oneself. --Shanti Deva (in Concern for Chickens)

Guardian of the crossroads, please keep clear the path in front of me. Help me turn towards light and away from harm. Mistress of the winds, please provide the breeze to keep my head cool and vision clear. Stay at my back, guiding me ever forward. Father of justice, strengthen my blood with iron. Keep my spine straight and my head high. Mother of the oceans, watch over my family and friends. As they pray for me, I pray for them - health and joy. Mother of the rivers, sweeten my words and beautify my walk. Keep me from want and allow me to respond to need. Creator of clouds, visit my dreams and illuminate corners. Remind me I am from, responsible to, all - but no one more than myself. The One, make it so. And so it is. --Suheir Hammad (in The Illuminated Path)

Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, but do not be disheartened; the source they come from is eternal, growing, branching out, giving new life and new joy. Why do you weep? The source is within you; and this whole world is springing up from it. --Rumi (in Clandestine Brain Activity)

I love being alive. I really do. And I think the way the world is going to transform is by us getting back in touch with the joy of being alive for its own sake. --Matt Sanford (in Helping Others Come Alive)

And that is why I have to go back to so many places in the future, there to find myself and constantly examine my life with no witness but the moon and then whistle with joy ambling over rocks and doors of Earth with no task but to live, with no family but the road. --Pablo Neruda (in No Task But To Live)

This we have now is not imagination. This is not grief or joy. Not a judging state, or an elation, or sadness. Those come and go. This is the presence that doesn't. --Rumi (in This we have now)

Life can not give me joy and peace, it is up to me to will it. Life just gives me time and space, it is up to me to fill it. --William James (in Life Time)

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is discord, union; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek To be consoled as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. --The Prayer of St Francis (in The Prayer of St Francis)

Could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy. --Kahlil Gibran (in The Miracle of Positive Thinking)

It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely. --Leo Buscaglia (in Kids on Love)

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. --Rachel Carson (in Single Mom Adopts at 64)

Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful. --Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy (in Village Kids Crack Prestigious Exam)

Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. --Og Mandino (in Leading A Happier Life)

Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. ln those transparent moments we know other people's joys and sorrows, and we care about their concerns as if they were our own. --Fritz Williams (in A 9-Year Old's Vision: Hoops of Hope)

Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And, cooking done with care is an act of love. --Craig Clairborne (in Lunch Lady With A Mission)

We're never so vulnerable as when we trust someone -- but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy. --Walter Anderson (in The Speed of Trust)

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof. --Richard Bach (in Breakthrough In Blood Types)