Joy is more than just a wonderful feeling or a transient emotion. It’s a choice you make for yourself every single day. It’s in your own hands to overcome barriers and choose to find the good in all things despite your circumstances. It’s not always easy, but it all starts with positive thoughts and affirmations. Repeated and practiced daily, these two simple concepts can reshape the way you see the world and create a consistently healthy and happy mindset.
For those times when you do find yourself becoming distracted or bogged down by doubts and other emotions, use the following cheerful and motivational words to get back to a place of ease and contentment. These 75 quotes about joy will help you not only find happiness within yourself but also spread the sensation to the world around you.
Famous Quotes About Joy
- “Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow.” —Helen Keller
- “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” —Henri Nouwen
- “We need joy as we need air. We need love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.” —Maya Angelou
- “Life is to be enjoyed, not simply endured. Pleasure and goodness and joy support the pursuit of survival.” —Willard Gaylin
- “After the rain, the sun will reappear. There is life. After the pain, the joy will still be here.” —Walt Disney
- “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” —Abraham Lincoln
- “Happiness is not a goal… it’s a byproduct of a life well lived.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Well, your greatest joy definitely comes from doing something for another, especially when it was done with no thought of something in return.” —John Wooden
- “We need joy as we need air. We need love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.” —Maya Angelou
- “A flower blossoms for its own joy.” —Oscar Wilde
- “To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it.” —John Templeton
- “Let your joy be in your journey—not in some distant goal.” —Tim Cook
- “Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you.” —Eckhart Tolle
- “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
- “The more the heart is sated with joy, the more it becomes insatiable.” —Gabrielle Roy
- “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” —Mother Teresa
Related: Go Straight For The Joy And Follow Your Purpose
Simple Joy Quotes
- “The soul’s joy lies in doing.” —Percy Bysshe Shelley
- “If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment.” —Carlos Santana
- “Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not.” —Oswald Chambers
- “Where our work is, there let our joy be.” —Tertullian
- “The only joy in the world is to begin.” —Cesare Pavese
- “A joy shared is a joy doubled.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “Be simple enough to feel the true joy of life.” —Debasish Mridha
- “True joy results when we become aware of our connectedness to everything.” —Paul Pearsall
- “When we are centered in joy, we attain our wisdom.” —Marianne Williamson
- “Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.” —Albert Einstein
- “Pain is short, and joy is eternal.” —Friedrich Schiller
- “Joy is increased by spreading it to others.” —Robert Murray McCheyne
- “The joy that isn’t shared dies young.” —Anne Sexton
- “There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.” —Khalil Gibran
- “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” —Karl Barth
Related: Happiness Is All About Perspective
Inspirational Joy Quotes
- “Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself.” —Mahatma Gandhi
- “Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.” —Eckhart Tolle
- “Joy bursts in our lives when we go about doing the good at hand and not trying to manipulate things and times to achieve joy.” —C.S. Lewis
- “Joy increases as you give it, and diminishes as you try to keep it yourself. In giving it, you will accumulate a deposit of joy greater than you ever believed possible.” —Norman Vincent Peale
- “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” —Nhat Hanh
- “We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.” —Joseph Campbell
- “Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is based on the experience of one’s identity as a being of worth and dignity.” —Rollo May
- “The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions—the little soon forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- “Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men but from doing something worthwhile.” —Wilfred Grenfell
- “Joy is the faith that things may not be perfect yet, but you have the faith to be joyful anyway because, what follows a joyful moment, will always be good.” —Sarah Rajkotwala
- “Deep joy is both the ground of love and the surest source of strength to persevere in the course of compassion—even when trials abound, as they often will.” —Robert Ellwood
- “Just follow your joy. Always. I think that if you do that, life will take you on the course that it’s meant to take you.” —Jonathan Groff
- “Joy is the happiness of love—love aware of its own inner happiness. Pleasure comes from without, and joy comes from within, and it is, therefore, within reach of everyone in the world.” —Venerable Fulton J. Sheen
- “Happiness is not a thing—it is a feeling; a way of joyful living and being. It comes from inner fulfillment and appreciating the world you live in.” —Rasheed Ogunlaru
- “There is not one little blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice.” —John Calvin
Related: Unlocking Happiness In Life: Kim Strobel’s Mission To Empower Others To Pursue Joy
Finding Joy Quotes
- “Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.” —Robert Louis Stevenson
- “What you focus on in your life expands, so focusing on what you’re grateful for increases positive vibrations and feelings of joy.” —Oprah Winfrey
- “The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.” Louisa May Alcott
- “Joy is not in things; it is in us.” —Richard Wagner
- “Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it.” —Chuck Palahniuk
- “Joy comes to us in moments—ordinary moments. We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary.” —Brené Brown
- “Finding joy is probably tantamount to finding yourself and being comfortable in your own skin.” —Morgan Freeman
- “Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” —Greg Anderson
- “See the world through the eyes of your inner child. The eyes that sparkle in awe and amazement as they see love, magic and mystery in the most ordinary things.” —Henna Sohail
- “The secret to life is finding joy in ordinary things. I’m interested in happiness.” —Ruth Reichl
- “The best way to find joy is to give it to others.” —Robert G. Ingersoll
- “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” —Russell M. Nelson
- “Sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are actually living.” —Rachel Marie Martin
- “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” —Chris McCandless
- “True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Christian And Spiritual Quotes About Joy
- “Spiritual joy is what you experience when you choose to give thanks to God no matter what happens—even when things go wrong.” —Jim George
- “God made us for joy. God is joy, and the joy of living reflects the original joy that God felt in creating us.” —Pope Saint John Paul II
- “Everything if given to God can become your gateway to joy.” —Elisabeth Elliot
- “Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys, it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.” —Thomas Aquinas
- “Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God.” —Sam Storms
- “If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them. Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.” —Saint Katharine Drexel
- “The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware; joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” —Henry Miller
- “Spiritual joy arises from purity of heart and perseverance of prayer.” —Francis of Assisi
- “Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul.” —G.K. Chesterton
- “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.” —Pierre Teihard de Chardin
- “The true way to advance in holy virtues, is to persevere in a holy cheerfulness.” —Saint Philip Neri
- “Do not think only of your own joy, but vow to save all beings from suffering. This is sharing in its highest form and purity beyond all poisons of this world.” —Dalai Lama
- “When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” —Rumi
- “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” —Gautama Buddha
- “Joy is everywhere; it is in the earth’s green covering of grass; in the blue serenity of the sky; in the reckless exuberance of spring; in the severe abstinence of grey winter; in the living flesh that animates our bodily frame; in the perfect poise of the human figure, noble and upright; in living, in the exercise of all our powers; in the acquisition of knowledge; in fighting evils…. Joy is there everywhere.” —Rabindranath Tagore
Finding Joy Will Help You Choose And Spread Happiness
Once you’ve harnessed the energy that accompanies joy, you’ll discover that it is a boundless and renewable resource. You can find it in the simplest and most ordinary places and things, and once you’ve discovered it, it becomes like a river that ceases to flow. We hope these simple, spiritual, and inspirational joy quotes have helped lift your spirits and encouraged you to choose happiness in your daily pursuits. We are all worthy and deserving of a joyful life and are capable of creating just that through a positive perspective and a little bit of faith.
Joy Quotes FAQs
1. What Is A Famous Quote About Joy?
A famous quote about joy is an excerpt from an accomplished or notable figure in history or presently that explains the meaning of joy and how we can obtain it in our own lives.
Example: “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” —Emily Dickinson
2. What Is A Short Quote About A Joyful Life?
Short joy quotes are simple and said in few words but can express the true power and importance of happiness and joy.
Example: “Do few things but do them well, simple joys are holy.” —Francis of Assisi
3. What Is A Spiritual Quote About Joy?
Spiritual quotes remind us that the feeling of joy transcends material things and is, instead, derived from a higher meaning or power.
Example: “Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.” —Tony Robbins
4. What Is A Quote About Simple Joys?
Simple joys are the subtle yet abundant sparks of happiness that make up our days. Quotes on this topic remind us to appreciate and find bliss in these precious moments.
Example: “The essence of life is not in the great victories and grand failures, but in the simple joys.” —Jonathan Lockwood Huie
5. What Is An Inspiring Quote About Joy?
Sometimes the journey to finding joy can be a difficult one to begin. Inspiring joy quotes are a great place to start as they are encouraging and give hints about where to search for the sensation.
Example: “You are the one that possesses the key to your being. You carry the passport to your own happiness.” —Diane von Furstenberg
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