all people desire to be happy; wealth does not bring happiness (Brigham Young)

All people desire to be happy. You cannot find an individual that does not wish comfort and ease. You can obtain happiness in no other way than by unreservedly submitting yourselves to your God. Let him lead us through paths of affliction and cause suffering and trouble to come upon us, still there is that consolation and comfort within that the world cannot give nor take away. That is the only solid comfort there is in this life. Men cannot enjoy comfort and satisfaction in the accumulation of wealth. Wealth never was the source of happiness to any person. It cannot be: it is not in the nature of things; for contentment exists only in the mind. In the mind there is happiness—in the mind there is glory. Place a man in extreme poverty, and let him possess the sweet, benign influences of the Spirit of the Lord, and you will find a happy man and a cheerful countenance; while the man who does not possess the Spirit of heaven, though he may possess all this world can afford beside, is almost constantly in sorrow and trouble.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:159

Out of touch with modern life (Uchtdorf)

“Not all will follow the map [Heavenly Father has given us]. They may look at it. They may think it is reasonable, perhaps even true. But they do not follow the divine directions. Many believe that any road will take them to a ‘happily ever after.’ Some may even become angry when others who know the way try to help and tell them. They suppose that such advice is outdated, irrelevant, out of touch with modern life….they suppose wrong.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Your Happily Ever After,” Ensign, May 2010, 127

It will be all right in the end (Holland)

• “Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”

  —Jeffrey R. Holland, “An High Priest of Good Things to Come“, Liahona and Ensign, November 1999

the blessings prepared for us (Lorenzo Snow)

I presume to say that we do not all of us fully comprehend the blessings and privileges that are prepared in the Gospel for us to receive. We do not fully comprehend and we do not have before our view the things which await us in the eternal worlds, nor, indeed, the things which await us in this life and that are calculated to promote our peace and happiness and to answer the desires of our hearts…

We frequently, in the multitude of cares around us, get forgetful, and these things are not before us; then we do not comprehend that the Gospel is designed and calculated in its nature to bestow upon us those things that will bring glory, honor, and exaltation—that will bring peace and glory. We are apt to forget these things in the midst of the cares and vexations of life; and we do not fully understand that it is our privilege, and that the Lord has placed it in our reach to pursue that Gospel whereby we may have peace within us continually.

All this trouble and vexation of mind is but a matter of the present; and if we keep the light of the Spirit within us, we can so walk in the Gospel that we can measurably enjoy and happiness in this world; and while we are travelling onward, striving for peace and happiness that lie in our path, in the distance, we shall have a peace of mind that none can enjoy but those who are filled with the Holy Spirit…

In the Gospel we have received, by the light thereof and by the power thereof, we see that by-and-by we are coming into possession of those things that we have so long desired and labored for. Those who are not in possession of this Spirit do not understand that the Lord God of our fathers has revealed himself unto us; and although many of them have had a like opportunity, yet they have not made use of it to acquire that knowledge.

Through a continual course of progression, our heavenly Father has received exaltation and glory, and he points us out the same path; and inasmuch as he is clothed with power, authority, and glory, he says, “Walk ye up and come in possession of the same glory and happiness that I possess.”

In the Gospel those things have been made manifest unto us, and we are perfectly assured that, inasmuch as we are faithful, we shall eventually come in possession of everything that the mind of man can conceive of—everything that heart can desire.

Well, then, in the midst of poverty and deprivations, or in the midst of comforts and conveniences, still these hopes are the secret springs of our joys. We see that our heavenly Father does provide us with everything we need; we see that we are in the sure path to come in possession of those richer blessings that are promised; and nothing in this world can, or ever will, place an impediment in our way to prevent us from receiving those blessings.

Lorenzo Snow, Journal of Discourses 5:312-13

peace and happiness (Brigham Young)

It is a mistaken idea in the inhabitants of the earth to conclude that it will not do for them to yield obedience to the commandments of heaven, lest it should abridge them in their comforts and in their enjoyments; for there is no real peace, there is no real happiness in anything in heaven or on the earth, except to those who serve the Lord. In His service there is joy, there is happiness; but they are not to be found anywhere else. In it there are peace and comfort; but when the soul is filled with joy, with peace, and with glory, and is perfectly satisfied therewith a person even then has but little idea of that which is in store for all the faithful.

Thrust a man into prison and bind him with chains, and then let him be filled with the comfort and with the glory of eternity, and that prison is a palace to him. Again, let a man be seated upon a throne with power and dominion in this world, ruling his millions and millions, and without that peace which flows from the Lord of Hosts—without that contentment and joy that comes from heaven, his palace is a prison; his life is a burden to him; he lives in fear, in dread, and in sorrow. But when a person is filled with the peace and power of God, all is right with him.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 5:1-2

its your choice (Gordon B. Hinckley)

“You can be smart and happy or stupid and miserable. . . it’s your choice”


Gordon B. Hinckley 

to be happy, live the Gospel

There is not a man or woman in this congregation, or on the face of the earth, that has the privilege of the holy Gospel, and lives strictly to it, whom all hell can make unhappy.  You cannot make the man, woman or child unhappy who possesses the Spirit of the living God; unhappiness is caused by some other spirit.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:343

the true joy in life

This is the true joy in life–being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.  I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.  I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It’s a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

-George Bernard Shaw