The work I do to let go of my suffering diminishes the suffering of the whole universe. When I have room for my own pain, I have room for the pain of others. Only then can I be transformed into joy. As I heal, the Earth heals. --Christiane Northrup (in World's Largest Floating Hospital)

When you do things from your soul you feel a river moving in you, a joy. When action comes from another section, the feeling disappears. --Jalaluddin Rumi (in What Does It Mean To Have Soul?)

Joy is not in things; it is in us. --Richard Wagner (in Beatbox on the Paris Metro)

Happiness is the soul's joy in the possession of the intangible. --William Jordan (in Cake But No Presents Please)

Listen. In every office you hear the threads of love and joy and fear and guilt, the cries for celebration and reassurance, and somehow you know that connecting those threads is what you are supposed to do and business takes care of itself. --James Autry (in Leprosy And A Mother's Love)

It is worth reminding ourselves that what brings us the greatest joy and satisfaction in life are those actions we undertake out of concern for others. Indeed we can go further. For whereas the fundamental questions of human existence, such as why we are here, where we are going, and whether the universe had a beginning, have each elicited different responses in different philosophical traditions, it is self-evident that a generous heart and wholesome actions lead to greater peace. --Dalai Lama (in What Makes Us Moral?)

Joy, sorrow, tears, lamentation, laughter -- to all these music gives voice, but in such a way that we are transported from the world of unrest to a world of peace, and see reality in a new way, as if we were sitting by a mountain lake and contemplating hills and woods and clouds in the tranquil and fathomless water. --Albert Schweitzer (in Six-year-old Piano Prodigy)

The joy is that we can take back our bodies, reclaim our health, and restore ourselves to balance. We can take power over what and how we eat. We can rejuvenate and recharge ourselves, bringing healing to the wounds we carry inside us, and bringing to fuller life the wonderful person that each of us can be. --John Robbins (in What The World Eats In A Week)

Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible, it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could. --Barbara DeAngelis (in Selling 1 House to Serve 30 Villages)

We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment, but it is transient. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. If we share with caring, lightheartedness and love, we will create abundance and joy for each other. And then this moment will have been worthwhile. --Deepak Chopra (in Caring For Other People's Children)

All we see of someone at any moment is a snapshot of their life, there in riches or poverty, in joy or despair. Snapshots don't show the million decisions that led to that moment. --Richard Bach (in Australian Slumdog Millionaires)

If we encourage and uphold our essential goodness and capacity for loving connection, we can nurture a society of people who are healthy and whole and whose lives will bring healing, peace, and joy to those they touch. --John Robbins (in The City that Ended Hunger)

It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet. --Kojiro Tomita (in Art & The Happiness Entrepreneur)

Joy and happiness are the indicators of balance in a human machine. --Walter Russell (in The World's Happiest People)

We rely upon artists to articulate what most of us can only feel in joy and sorrow. Whenever I feel my courage wavering I rush to them. They will give me the wisdom of acceptance, the will and resilience to push on. --Helen Hayes (in Giving Slums a Human Face)

Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (in Is Pure Altriusm Possible?)

Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty. --Henri Frederic Amiel (in A Marathon with Heart, Literally)

In contentment and joy are found the height and perfection of all love towards our neighbor. --William Ames (in A Neighbor's Kind Act)

Those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life's deepest joy: true fulfillment. --Tony Robbins (in Nine-year-old Saves Her Sister's life)

When you do things from your soul you feel a river moving in you, a joy. --Rumi (in The Art of Joy)

Life has beauty and a joy that transcends all the darkness that surrounds us, that something ineffable lives beyond the ordinary affairs of the day, and that without this mystery our lives would not be worth living. --Kent Nerbern (in Cup of Compassion and Grandma's Beautiful Hat)

Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful. --Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (Dr. V) (in The World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion)

We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment but it is transient. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. If we share caring, lightheartedness, and love, we will create abundance and joy for each other. And then this moment will be worthwhile. --Deepak Chopra (in Attitude of Gratitude)

We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone -- but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy. --Walter Anderson (in How Vulnerability Can Be a Strength)

Gradually, you will return to yourself, having learned a new respect for your heart, and the joy that dwells far within slow time. --John O'Donohue (in The Joy of Quiet)

There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone's life. -- Sr. Mary Rose McGeady (in The Kindness Boomerang)

In time of care and sorrow, keep a fountain of joy alive in you. --Dietrich Bonhoffer (in No Greater Joy: Photos from Around the World)

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was often times filled with your tears. And how else can it be? --Kahlil Gibran (in 4 Ways Happiness Can Hurt You)

Set me a task in which I can put something of my very self, and it is a task no longer; it is joy; it is art. --Bliss Carman (in 5 Principles for Inner Transformation at Work)

If you have not often felt the joy of doing a kind act, you have neglected much, and most of all yourself. --A. Neilen (in The Kindness of Strangers...Varies Around the World)

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. --Kahlil Gibran (in In Praise of Melancholy)

Embrace relational uncertainty. It's called romance. Embrace spiritual uncertainty. It's called mystery. Embrace occupational uncertainty. It's called destiny. Embrace emotional uncertainty. It's called joy. Embrace intellectual uncertainty. It's called revelation. --Mark Batterson (in How to Get Good at Uncertainty)

Beauty is whatever gives joy. --Edna St. Vincent Millay (in The Most Beautiful Street in the World)

How do you say "thank you" for sunshine or health...for clear days or gentle rains...for happiness, joy or love? You say it by sharing what you have. You say it by making the world a better place in which to live. --Thomas D. Willhite (in Gratitude, Gifting and Grandpa)

Joy is strength. --Mother Teresa (in Jessie's Joy Jars)

To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out. --Roger Ebert (in Roger Ebert Goes Gently Into That Good Night)

With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things. --William Wordsworth (in Find Your Moment of Obligation)

People have traditionally turned to ritual to help them frame and acknowledge and ultimately even find joy in just such a paradox of being human -- in the fact that so much of what we desire for our happiness and need for our survival comes at a heavy cost. --Michael Pollan (in Rituals for Wastelands)

Words are like nets -- we hope they'll cover what we mean, but we know they can't possibly hold that much joy, or grief, or wonder. --Jodi Picoult (in 11 Untranslatable Words From Other Cultures)

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies. --Erich Fromm (in Mind & Mood On A Breathing Planet)

Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all - that has been my religion. --John Burroughs (in Big Questions From Little People)

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it. --Thich Nhat Hanh (in Why The Capacity For Boredom Is A Good Thing)

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. --Kahlil Gibran (in A Guide To Love, Loss ... and Lucky Socks)

Listen to the joy in your heart and look at how much peace you have brought into the world before you. --Francesca (5 years old) (in The Extinction of Quiet)

The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit, and fire. --Sharon Ralls Lemon (in Photographing Horses To Save Their Lives)

Happiness is a choice that I can make no matter how grim circumstances might seem. The joy of being alive is always attainable at some level. --Patti Pansa (in No Regrets: Living With Dying)

The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person's suffering and bring that person joy. --Thich Nhat Hanh (in Free Tea and Company: Ten Years And Counting)

There is no joy in possession without sharing. --Erasmus (in Gotta Have Sole)

Purposefulness and connectedness bring joy even amidst death, chaos, fear and loss --Rebecca Solnit (in Rebecca Solnit: Falling Together)

If there was an abundance of misery in the world, there was also sufficient joy, yes -- as long as one knew where to look for it. --Rohinton Mistry (in Sagar Kabra: A Doctor Who Strove to Light the World)