Top +100 Well-Being Quotes to Cultivate Inner Peace

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Well-being isn’t just about feeling good—it’s about building a sense of ease, strength, and inner peace, even when life feels challenging. The right words can help you pause, take a breath, and remind yourself of what truly matters.

In this article, we’ve gathered expert-reviewed well-being quotes, including powerful insights from neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, to offer encouragement, perspective, and small ways to nurture your well-being every day. Let these quotes be a gentle guide, helping you feel more grounded, present, and at ease.

Well-Being Quotes from Dr. Rick Hanson

Rick Hanson’s book Hardwiring Happiness explores the science of lasting well-being and how to cultivate inner strengths for a fulfilling life. Below are selected quotes from the book that offer deep insights into well-being, happiness, and emotional resilience:

100+ Well-Being Quotes for Happiness and Fulfillment

1.   “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
2.   “True happiness is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller
3.   “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” – Plato
4.   “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” – Anne Lamott
5.   “There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.” – Buddha
6.   “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle
7.   “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
8.   “Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” – Marianne Williamson
9.   “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
10.   “Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.” – Mother Teresa
11.   “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius
12.   “A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.” – Albert Einstein
13.   “Simplicity is the key to brilliance.” – Bruce Lee
14.   “Happiness is the secret to all beauty. There is no beauty without happiness.” – Christian Dior
15.   “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” – Buddha
16.   “Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” – Socrates
17.   “Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” – Margaret Lee Runbeck
18.   “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault
19.   “You cannot control the world, but when you control your thoughts, you bring peace.” – Wayne Dyer
20.   “You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.” – Pema Chödrön
21.   “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Aesop
22.   “A happy life consists in tranquility of mind.” – Cicero
23.   “Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers’ gardens.” – Douglas Jerrold
24.   “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” – Dale Carnegie
25.   “The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
26.   “He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.” – Marcus Aurelius
27.   “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
28.   “If you want to be happy, be.” – Leo Tolstoy
29.   “Be where you are; otherwise, you will miss your life.” – Buddha
30.   “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi
31.   “Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
32.   “Talk to yourself like someone you love.” – Brené Brown
33.   “The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.” – Mark Twain
34.   “To be content means that you realize you contain what you seek.” – Alan Cohen
35.   “Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” – Steve Maraboli
36.   “Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.” – Katie Reed
37.   “A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.” – Irish Proverb
38.   “The key to being happy is knowing you have the power to choose what to accept and what to let go.” – Dodinsky
39.   “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
40.   “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
41.   “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
42.   “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” – Buddha
43.   “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
44.   “The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.” – William Saroyan
45.   “A little progress each day adds up to big results.” – Satya Nani
46.   “Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” – Robert Frost
47.   “Happiness is a habit—cultivate it.” – Elbert Hubbard
48.   “When we are happy, we are always good, but when we are good, we are not always happy.” – Oscar Wilde
49.   “Do more things that make you forget to check your phone.” – Unknown
50.   “Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
51.   “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene
52.   “Contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from few wants.” – Epictetus
53.   “There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” – Linda Grayson
54.   “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama
55.   “It’s not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.” – Charles Spurgeon
56.   “Not everything that weighs you down is yours to carry.” – Unknown
57.   “Happiness is the best makeup.” – Drew Barrymore
58.   “Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think, not wonder, not obsess.” – Unknown
59.   “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn
60.   “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
61.   “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
62.   “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw
63.   “Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” – Buddha
64.   “When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” – Lao Tzu
65.   “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
66.   “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
67.   “To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.” – Albert Camus
68.   “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive.” – Marcus Aurelius
69.   “Self-love is not selfish; you cannot truly love another until you know how to love yourself.” – Unknown
70.   “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
71.   “The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
72.   “Happiness is not out there, it’s in you.” – Unknown
73.   “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn
74.   “Be happy with what you have while working for what you want.” – Helen Keller
75.   “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” – Will Rogers
76.   “Self-care is how you take your power back.” – Lalah Delia
77.   “Let go of the thoughts that don’t make you strong.” – Karen Salmansohn
78.   “Do what makes your soul shine.” – Unknown
79.   “The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” – Henry Ward Beecher
80.   “Your mental health is a priority. Your happiness is essential. Your self-care is a necessity.” – Unknown
81.   “Sometimes happiness is simply a quiet moment with yourself.” – Unknown
82.   “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
83.   “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama
84.   “The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.” – Caroline Myss
85.   “You carry so much love in your heart. Give some to yourself.” – R.Z.
86.   “You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep others warm.” – Unknown
87.   “Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like.” – Unknown
88.   “One of the best ways to find happiness is to stop overthinking everything.” – Unknown
89.   “Your greatest responsibility is to love yourself and to know you are enough.” – Unknown
90.   “Doing nothing often leads to the very best something.” – Winnie the Pooh
91.   “A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe.” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
92.   “Peace begins with a smile.” – Mother Teresa
93.   “If you can’t find happiness within yourself, you’ll never find it outside of you.” – Unknown
94.   “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
95.   “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” – Ovid
96.   “The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” – Ram Dass
97.   “Be patient with yourself. Nothing in nature blooms all year.” – Unknown
98.   “Happiness is found in doing, not merely possessing.” – Napoleon Hill
99.   “A good life is a collection of happy moments.” – Denis Waitley
100.   “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
101.   “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” – John Barrymore
102.   “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey
103.   “Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” – Christopher Germer
104.   “Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.” – Pema Chödrön
105.   “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
106.   “Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow.” – Eleanor Brown
107.   “Don’t let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life.” – Unknown
108.   “The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
109.   “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
110.   “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
111.   “Happiness consists more in conveniences of pleasure that occur every day than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.” – Benjamin Franklin
112.   “Happiness is an inside job. Don’t assign anyone else that much power over your life.” – Mandy Hale
113.   “What you focus on grows. Focus on peace, love, and happiness.” – Unknown
114.   “There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality or lower your expectations.” – Jodi Picoult
115.   “Be enough for yourself first. The rest of the world can wait.” – Unknown
116.   “Your happiness starts with you. Not with your relationships, not with your job, not with your money, but with you.” – Unknown
117.   “The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental well-being.” – Abraham Maslow
118.   “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
119.   “No medicine cures what happiness cannot.” – Gabriel García Márquez
120.   “You deserve a life full of peace, self-care, and unshakable joy.” – Unknown

Stephanie Veillon is a creative director and instructional designer with over 15 years of experience supporting clients in the mindfulness, personal growth, well-being, learning, and psychology fields. She leverages technology, design, marketing, and best online practices to tell client stories and enhance student experience.