A quote by Montesquieu

If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are. —Charles de Montesquieu, writer/philosopher

Montesquieu wrote 275 years ago, “If you only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.”

Happiness too often seems to be less a reflection of our actual happiness and more a reflection of the ways in which we compare ourselves to others.

“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.”

— Aldous Huxley

“The reason that most of us are unhappy most of the time is that we set our goals not for the person we’re going to be when we reach them, but we set our goals for the person we are when we set them.