The research illustrates that the relationship between happiness and success is reciprocal: not only can success—be it at work or in love—contribute to happiness, but happiness also leads to more success.

All else being equal, happy people have better relationships, are more likely to thrive at work, and also live better and longer. Happiness is a worthwhile pursuit, whether as an end in itself or as a means toward other ends.

~ Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D., Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment , pp. 32-33

What makes a happy marriage happy? …[I]t appears to be a by-product of living a caring, loving, moral, and accomplished life—and even then you can be unhappy from time to time. Certain events can make you feel happy…but it really is true that day-to-day happiness fluctuates.

~ Paul Coleman, Psy.D., 30 Secrets of Happily Married Couples , pp. xii-xiii

Rather than feeling despondent because we have not yet reached the point of perfect happiness, rather than squandering our energies trying to gauge how happy we are, we need to recognize that happiness is an unlimited resource and then focus on ways in which we can attain more of it. Becoming happier is a lifelong pursuit.

~ Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D., Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment , p. 8                                                                                                            

Every moment that's ever been, or ever will be, is gone the instant it's begun. So life is loss. And the secret of happiness is to learn to love the moment more than you mourn the loss.

~ “Emily” quoted in Dan Baker, Ph.D. and Cameron Stauth, What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better, p. 259

We can travel a long way and do many different things, but our deepest happiness is not born from accumulating new experiences. It is born from letting go of what is unnecessary, and knowing ourselves to be always at home. True happiness may not be at all far away, but it requires a radical change of view as to where to find it.

~ Sharon Salzberg, Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness , p. 7

…[M]an's supreme honor and real happiness lie in self-respect, in high resolves and noble purposes, in integrity and moral quality, in immaculacy of mind.

~ ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 19

Attaining lasting happiness requires that we enjoy the journey on our way toward a destination we deem valuable. Happiness is not about making it to the peak of the mountain nor is it about climbing aimlessly around the mountain; happiness is the experience of climbing toward the peak .

~ Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D., Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment , p. 27

Husbands and wives have to consider how their actions and desires affect each other. They have to balance the pursuit of personal happiness with their desire for marital happiness. It is an essential truth that sacrificing one's own needs to someone else's is a necessary and worthwhile part of human relationships. When that truth is denied in a marriage, the results can be especially destructive; abandoned spouses and children get left behind in the dust of misguided soul-searching for personal fulfillment focused on ego-driven needs.

Both partners need to put the happiness of the marriage before their own happiness…

~ Scott Haltzman, The Secrets of Happily Married Women , p. 167