My 53 French Quotes About Happiness

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| By : Christine
I’m a retired 65 years old and I live in western Paris. Born in Alsace, I have always lived in this beautiful region of eastern France. Passionate about travel, culture and literature. Find me on Linkedin.

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Bonjour les amis,

Once again, I’m here to share a discovery with you.

As you know, I’m very passionate about reading and, above all, very curious. Today, I’m here to offer you my French quotes on happiness.

Don’t forget to check out my article on French quotes about life.

See you soon.

— Christine

Also read: French Quotes About Travel

French quotes about happiness

Here is my list of 53 French quotes about happiness.

Quotes by famous French figures

1- “La seule chose qui puisse empêcher un rêve d’aboutir, c’est la peur d’échouer.” – Paul-Émile Victor  – Writer

English translation: The only thing that can prevent a dream from coming true is the fear of failure.

My personal interpretation: For Victor, and through his quote, you have to fight the fear of failure if you want to realize your dreams.


2- “Toutes les fois que vous avez l’occasion de vous rendre heureux, faites-le, le bonheur est une divinité.” – Voltaire – Writer

English translation: Whenever you have the opportunity to make yourself happy, do it, happiness is a god.

My personal interpretation: For Voltaire, this means making the most of every moment of your life to make yourself happy, because happiness is divine.


3- “Le bonheur n’est pas une destination à atteindre mais une façon de voyager.” – Marcel Proust- Philosopher

English translation: Happiness is not a destination to be reached, but a way to travel.

My personal interpretation: Here, Proust makes it clear that being happy or living one’s happiness doesn’t have to be a goal to be set. Happiness is to be found in every moment of life.

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4- “Nous devrions tous avoir pour but d’être heureux, c’est le but le plus enviable de la vie, et tout le reste devrait être à son service.” – Jean de La Bruyère – Writer

English translation: We Should All Aim To Be Happy, That Is Life’s Most Enviable Goal, And Everything Else Should Be At Its Service.

My personal interpretation: According to Jean, it’s important to put happiness at the heart of everything we do. Happiness must be at the center of all life’s objectives.


5- “Le bonheur est parfois caché dans l’inconnu.” – Victor Hugo – Writer

English translation: Happiness is sometimes hidden in the unknown.

My personal interpretation: Victor wants us to understand that happiness isn’t just limited to the familiar. It can also be found in something unknown to us.


6- “La vraie joie vient de la joie mise dans le travail.” – Émile Zola – Writer

English translation: True joy comes from joy in work.

My personal interpretation: For him, happiness comes in man’s work. It comes from everything we do.


7- “Le bonheur est souvent la seule chose qu’on puisse donner sans l’avoir et c’est en le donnant qu’on l’acquiert.” – Voltaire – Writer

English translation: Happiness is often the only thing you can give without having, and it’s in giving that you acquire it.

My personal interpretation: For Voltaire, happiness cannot be experienced alone. It’s by sharing it that we acquire it.


8 – “Le bonheur, c’est avoir une bonne santé et une mauvaise mémoire.” – Ingrid Bergman – Actress

English translation: Happiness is good health and a bad memory.

My personal interpretation: For her, everyone lives their happiness in their own way, which leads to different conceptions of the word.


9- “La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l’on n’a pas ri.” – Nicolas de Chamfort – Writer

English translation: The most wasted of all days is the one without laughter.

My personal interpretation: For him, happiness can also be found in laughter. A day without laughter is a day lost.


10 – “Il n’est point de bonheur sans courage, ni de vertu sans combat.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Writer

English translation: There is no happiness without courage, nor virtue without struggle

My personal interpretation: For Rousseau, happiness comes from determination and courage. These are the qualities that lead to happiness.


11- “Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit.” – Paul Éluard – Poet

English translation: Make your dream longer than the night.

My personal interpretation: With this quote, Paul makes it clear that to achieve happiness, you must never give up, no matter what the situation. No doubt, no discouragement, because resistance leads to freedom.


12- “Pour être heureux, il faut penser au bonheur d’un autre.” – Gaston Bachelard – Writer

English translation: To be happy, you have to think about someone else’s happiness.”

My personal interpretation: For this thinker, we are only happy when we give priority to the happiness of others.

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13- “Il est difficile de trouver le bonheur en nous, il est impossible de le trouver ailleurs.” – Nicolas Chamfort – Writer

English translation: It is difficult to find happiness within ourselves, it is impossible to find it elsewhere.

My personal interpretation: This writer’s quote just teaches that happiness is found within oneself. We are our own happiness.


14- Le vrai bonheur coûte peu ; s’il est cher, il n’est pas d’une bonne espèce.” – François-René de Chateaubriand – Writer

English translation: True happiness costs little; if it is expensive, it is not of a good kind.

My personal interpretation: With this quote, he justly expresses his opinion that happiness is accessible to all


15- “Les joies de l’amour sont toujours proportionnelles à la crainte qu’on a de le perdre.” – Stendhal – Novelist

English translation: The joys of love are always proportional to the fear one has of losing it.

My personal interpretation: With this quote, Stendhal expresses the fact that love and the fear of losing a person are proportional. These two feelings go hand in hand.


Read also: french quotes about Art

16- “Le seul vrai bonheur vient de l’intérieur, et il est le fruit de l’amour.” – Émile Zola – Writer

English translation: The only true happiness comes from within, and it is the fruit of love.

My personal interpretation: Happiness comes from within, as Emile Zola put it. It all depends on how much you love yourself.


17- “On passe souvent de l’amour à l’ambition, mais on ne revient guère de l’ambition à l’amour.” – François de La Rochefoucauld – Writer

English translation: One often passes from love to ambition, but one hardly ever returns from ambition to love.

My personal interpretation: François is making a comparison with his quote. He compares love, ambition and forlornness. According to him, love can easily lead to ambition, but it’s impossible to leave love for ambition.


18- “Le bonheur est une petite chose que l’on grignote, assis par terre, au soleil.” – Jean Giraudoux – Novelist

English translation: Happiness is a little thing we nibble on, sitting on the ground, in the sun.

My personal interpretation: For this novelist and his quote, happiness is found in the little things.


19- “Le plus grand secret pour le bonheur, c’est d’être bien avec soi.” – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle – Writer

English translation: The greatest secret to happiness is to feel good about yourself.

My personal interpretation: Happiness only comes when we accept who we really are.


20- “La plus grande joie que l’on puisse avoir, c’est de provoquer la joie chez les autres.” – Robert Baden-Powell – Writer

English translation: The greatest joy we can have is to provoke joy in others.

My personal interpretation: To have immense joy and be happy, you have to make those around you happy.


21- “Le rêve est le bonheur de tous ; c’est un moment d’oubli du passé et de l’avenir.” – Gaston Bachelard – Writer

English translation: The dream is the happiness of all; it’s a moment of forgetting the past and the future.

My personal interpretation: For this thinker, the dream is the happiness of all things.


22- ”Il y a des gens qui vous laissent tomber un pétale de bonheur dans l’âme, qui vous font croire à la beauté des choses.” – Colette – Writer

English translation: There Are People Who Drop A Petal Of Happiness Into Your Soul, Who Make You Believe In The Beauty Of Things.

My personal interpretation


23- “Le bonheur est parfois une bénédiction, mais il est généralement une conquête.” – Paulo Coelho – Poet

English translation: Happiness is sometimes a blessing, but it’s usually a conquest.

My personal interpretation : Happiness is not something that is given to us to find, it is actively sought and above all conquered.


24-“Il faut rêver très haut pour ne pas réaliser trop bas.” – Charles de Gaulle – Writer

English translation: You have to dream very high not to realize too low.

My personal interpretation : Pure Charles, you have to dream big to achieve anything significant.


25 – “La joie est en tout ; il faut savoir l’extraire.” – Confucius – Writer

English translation: Joy is in everything; you just have to know how to extract it

My personal interpretation : For this thinker, joy or happiness is in everything. It’s up to us to know how to conquer it.


26 – “Pour être heureux, il faut avoir souffert. C’est une loi bien triste, mais bien prouvée.” – Alphonse Karr – Writer

English translation: To be happy, one must have suffered. It’s a sad, but well-proven law.

My personal interpretation : With this quote, the author is simply telling us that suffering is the key to happiness.


27- “Le bonheur est un délicieux fruit à cueillir dans le jardin de la vie.” – Henri de Régnier – Poet

English translation: Happiness is a delicious fruit to be plucked from the garden of life.

My personal interpretation : This poet’s quote makes it clear that happiness is in life. It’s up to us to look for it.

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28- “Rien ne vaut la douceur du foyer pour qui veut être heureux sur terre.” – Alexandre Dumas – Poet

English translation: Nothing beats the sweetness of home for those who want to be happy on earth.

My personal interpretation : For this thinker, happiness is found in the home, because the home is a universe where we find love and joy.


29- “Le bonheur est la clé du succès. Si vous aimez ce que vous faites, vous réussirez.” – Albert Schweitzer

English translation: Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you do, you will succeed.

My personal interpretation : The key to happiness lies in success. So he advises us to love what we do to enjoy absolute happiness.


30- “Le bonheur est un art à pratiquer, comme le violon.” – René Barjavel – Writer

English translation: Happiness is an art to be practiced, like playing the violin.

My personal interpretation : Happiness is no accident for this author. In his words, it comes from work and discipline.


31- “Chercher le bonheur en dehors de nous, c’est comme attendre le soleil dans une cave où jamais il n’entre.” – Alain – Philosophe

English translation: Looking for happiness outside ourselves is like waiting for the sun in a cellar where it never enters.

My personal interpretation : With this quote, I understand that happiness lies within us, not outside.


32 – “Le bonheur est souvent la seule chose qu’on puisse donner sans l’avoir, et c’est en le donnant que l’on l’acquiert.” – Voltaire – Writer

English translation: Happiness is often the only thing you can give without having, and it’s by giving it that you acquire it.

My personal interpretation :For him, happiness is easily given without getting anything in return, and by giving it to others, we acquire it even more.


33 – “La seule chose que nous ayons à décider est quoi faire du temps qui nous est imparti.” – J.R.R. Tolkien – Writer

English translation: The only thing we have to decide is what to do with the time we have.”

My personal interpretation :The most important thing to do on earth is to choose what to do with your life.


34 – “Il n’y a de bonheur possible pour personne sans le soutien du courage.” – Colette – Writer

English translation: There can be no happiness for anyone without the support of courage.

My personal interpretation : Happiness cannot exist without courage.


35- “Nous n’avons d’autres moyens de demeurer immortels qu’en nous souvenant de nos rêves.” – Marcel Proust – Writer

English translation: We have no other way of remaining immortal than by remembering our dreams.”

My personal interpretation : Our greatest dreams are the things that make us immortal.


Read also: My 77 french quotes about life

36 – “Le bonheur est dans le pré. Cours-y vite, cours-y vite. Le bonheur est dans le pré. Cours-y vite. Il va filer.” – Paul Fort – Poet

English translation: Happiness is in the meadow. Run fast, run fast. Happiness is in the meadow. Run fast. It’s going to fly.

My personal interpretation : For this poet, happiness lies in nature.


37- “Le bonheur n’est pas un gros diamant, c’est une mosaïque de petites pierres harmonieusement rangées.” – Alphonse Karr – Writer

English translation: Happiness is not a big diamond, it’s a mosaic of small stones harmoniously arranged.

My personal interpretation : Happiness isn’t a big diamond that’s scarce on the market. It’s everywhere and everyone can enjoy it.


Quotes by famous International figures :

38- “La seule chose que nous ayons à décider est quoi faire du temps qui nous est imparti.” – J.R.R. Tolkien  – Writer

English translation: The only thing we have to decide is what to do with the time we have.

My personal interpretation : The most important thing on earth is to choose what to do with your life.


39 – “Le bonheur ne se trouve pas au sommet de la montagne, mais dans la façon de la gravir.” – Confucius – Writer

English translation: Happiness is not found at the top of the mountain, but in the way you climb it.”

My personal interpretation : Happiness isn’t just about success. It’s often about how you get on in life.


40 – “Rien N’est Permanent Dans Cette Vie Méchante. Pas Même Nos Malheurs.” – Charles Chaplin – Writer

English translation: Nothing Is Permanent In This Wicked Life. Not Even Our Misfortunes.

My personal interpretation : With this quote, we can understand that everything in this life is ephemeral. Even our misfortunes.


41 – “Le bonheur n’est pas le droit de chacun, c’est un combat de tous les jours. Je crois qu’il faut savoir le vivre lorsqu’il se présente à nous.” – Orson Welles – Poet

English translation: Happiness is not everyone’s right, it’s a daily struggle. I believe we must know how to live it when it presents itself to us.

My personal interpretation :  To achieve happiness, you have to fight, and when it comes your way, it’s important to know how to live it.                   


42- “Le bonheur n’est pas dans la recherche de la perfection, mais dans la tolérance de l’imperfection.” – Yasmina Khadra – Writer   

English translation: Happiness Is Not In The Search For Perfection, But In The Tolerance Of Imperfection.”

My personal interpretation :  For Yasmina, happiness isn’t just about the perfect things we do. Even in our failures, happiness can be found.


43 – “Le Bonheur C’est Quand Vos Actes Sont En Accord Avec Vos Paroles.” – Gandhi – Writer   

English translation: Happiness Is When Your Actions Agree With Your Words.

My personal interpretation :  Gandhi believes that happiness is achieved when one’s actions are in accord with one’s words.                

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44- “Les Plaisirs Simples Sont Le Dernier Refuge Des Gens Compliqués.” – Oscar Wilde – Writer   

English translation: Simple Pleasures Are The Last Refuge Of Complicated People.”

My personal interpretation :                            


45 – “Le bonheur est la signification et le but de la vie, le tout de l’existence humaine.” – Aristote – Writer   

English translation: Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole of human existence.

My personal interpretation : For Aristotle, happiness is man’s existence on earth. In other words, it’s the purpose of life.


46- “Le Bonheur Est Comme Un Papillon : Plus Vous Le Chassez, Plus Il Vous Échappe, Mais Si Vous Tournez Votre Attention Vers D’autres Choses, Il Viendra Se Poser Doucement Sur Votre Épaule.” – Henry David Thoreau – Novelist

English translation: Happiness Is Like A Butterfly: The More You Chase It, The More It Escapes You, But If You Turn Your Attention To Other Things, It Will Come Softly To Settle On Your Shoulder.

My personal interpretation : For this thinker, happiness is perceived in many ways. Its understanding varies from one individual to another.


47- “N’attendez pas que les choses changent, changez-les vous-même.” – Mark Twain  – Writer   

English translation: Don’t wait for things to change, change them yourself

My personal interpretation :  Don’t wait for things to change, fight to change them to achieve happiness.


48- “Le bonheur est une direction, pas un lieu.” – Sydney J. Harris  – Writer   

English translation: Happiness is a direction, not a place.

My personal interpretation :  Happiness should not be a path to follow, but rather a goal to achieve.                


49- “La mesure de qui nous sommes est ce que nous faisons avec ce que nous avons.” – Vince Lombardi – Coach

English translation: The Measure Of Who We Are Is What We Do With What We Have.

My personal interpretation :  This thinker just expresses that we are masters of ourselves. There are values within us, and it’s up to us to tap into them in order to benefit from them.


50- “Le Vrai Bonheur Vient De La Joie De Ses Propres Actions Et De L’assurance De Son Propre Chemin Vers Le Futur.” – Benjamin Franklin – Public personality

English translation: True Happiness Comes From The Joy Of One’s Own Actions And The Assurance Of One’s Own Path To The Future.”

My personal interpretation : This quote shows that happiness depends on ourselves. It’s up to us to do the right things to make it last.


51- “Le rêve commence toujours par un professeur qui croit en vous, qui vous pousse et vous mène parfois dans la prochaine étape de votre vie.” – Oprah Winfrey  – Author

English translation: The dream always begins with a teacher who believes in you, who pushes you and sometimes leads you into the next stage of your life.

My personal interpretation : For this thinker, we all need a mentor to encourage us to realize a dream.       


52- “Nous Avons Tendance À Oublier Que Le Bonheur N’arrive Pas Par L’obtention De Quelque Chose Que Nous N’avons Pas, Mais Par La Reconnaissance Et L’appréciation De Ce Que Nous Avons.” – Frederick Keonig   

English translation: We Tend To Forget That Happiness Doesn’t Come By Getting Something We Don’t Have, But By Recognizing And Appreciating What We Do Have.

My personal interpretation :  For him, happiness is not found in what you don’t have. It’s in appreciating what we have.


“Le plus grand bonheur que vous pouvez avoir est de savoir que vous ne nécessitez pas nécessairement le bonheur.” – William Saroyan – American playwright and author

English translation: “The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily need happiness.”

My personal interpretation: Recognizing that contentment comes from within, not external joy, is the most profound form of happiness one can experience.

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That’s it!

Above is a selection of 53 quotes on happiness.

Feel free to make your choice ! 🙂

Christine



People also ask about French quotes about happiness :

What are popular French quotes?

The most popular French quotes are numerous. However, I’d like to suggest one: “When you talk about the wolf, you see its tail.”

What is a French quote about being happy?

The quote about happiness I suggest is the following: “Happiness is the only thing that doubles if shared.” – Albert Schweitzer

What is a French quote about the good life?

The French quote about the good life that I suggest is the following: “There are few good lives in detail: great men are only great in bulk.” – Michel de Montaigne

What is the most famous French saying?

The most famous saying is: “He who doesn’t do when he can, doesn’t do when he wants.”

About Culture In France :

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