Though used synonymously, “happiness” and “joy” bear a striking difference. While happiness is a positive feeling resulting from external circumstances, joy is an internal feeling of peaceful elation.
As spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle describes it, “Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.” So while happiness is a positive, pleasurable feeling that comes from something actively happening to us, joy is that serene internal sensation we may describe as being “happy for no reason.”
Joy is often accompanied by gratitude, a profound awareness that, while there are plenty of things beyond our control, there’s something good and right happening at our center. To be joyful (literally full of joy) is to embrace life in spite of — or maybe even because of — the inevitable pain and sorrow that accompanies it.
May these quotes remind us of those joyful moments in life that aren’t loud and splashy or even visible to others.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.Kahlil Gibran
Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things are.Marianne Williamson
If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment.Carlos Santana
Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing.William Shakespeare
Everyone has the capacity for joy. Joy is available to all of us.Ross Gay
We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.Joseph Campbell
This joy that I have — the world didn’t give and the world can’t take it away.Billy Porter
At some point in our lives, we will all be broken and bruised — but we are not alone. We find joy together. We persevere together.Dr. Jill Biden
like the rainbow / after the rain / joy will reveal itself / after sorrowRupi Kaur
No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find.C.S. Lewis
Cling to joy: audacious and unbridled joy, that looks for light in everything, even in your waiting.Morgan Harper Nichols
Joy is contagious: When people smile at you, you tend to smile back. And that can create a virtuous, joyful circle.Ingrid Fetell Lee
The ghostly winter silence had given way to the great spring murmur of awakening life. This murmur arose from all the land, fraught with the joy of living.Jack London
Taking the worry of the world on my shoulders is not right. My New Year’s resolution is to stay humble and be joyous.Queen Latifah
We simply cannot know joy without embracing vulnerability — and the way to do that is to focus on gratitude, not fear.Brené Brown
The joy of creating is the truest joy.Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Featured image credit: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage via Getty Images
