A life of joy is not in seeking happiness. But in experiencing and simply being the circumstances of our life as they are. 
— Charlotte Joko Beck quoted in Open Mind by Diane Mariechild

To find joy in another’s joy 
that is the secret of happiness. 
— George Bernanos quoted in Joy by Beverly Elaine Eanes

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 
— John 15:11 in The Bible

The beating heart of the universe is holy joy. 
— Martin Buber quoted in Simplicity: The Art of Living by Richard Rohr

We have God’s joy in our blood. 
— Frederick Buechner in The Longing for Home

The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything. 
— Julian of Norwich quoted in Meditations with Julian of Norwich by Brendan Doyle

It is the mark of a good person to look for the achievement of good. Sheer joy is God’s and this demands companionship. 
— Thomas Aquinas quoted in Sheer Joy by Matthew Fox

Finding joy is the hardest of all spiritual tasks. If the only way to make yourself happy is by doing something silly, do it. 
— Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in The Empty Chair

Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God. 
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

From joy I came, 
For joy I live, 
and in Thy sacred joy 
I shall melt again. 
— Paramahamsa Yogananda

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 in Finding Deep Joy

Joy is an intermezzo of gratitude that interrupts the routine motion of life. 
— Lewis B. Smedes in How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong?

 

I have merged, like the bird, with the bright air,
And my thought flies to the place by the bo-tree.
Being, not doing, is my first joy. 
— Theodore Roethke quoted in Finding Deep Joyby Robert Ellwood

Joy has no name. Its very being is lost in the great tide of selfless delight — creation’s response to the infinite loving of God. 
— Evelyn Underhill quoted in Finding Deep Joy by Robert Ellwood

To wholeheartedly rejoice in another’s good can deliver us from the chains of competition. While polite congratulations may be socially correct, it is not liberating. It takes a wholehearted delight in another’s accomplishments or good fortune to free us and enlarge our hearts. 
— Edward Hays in The Great Escape Manual

This silent ability to impart to others the light of Divine Intelligence, and all its attendant qualities of joy, warmth, insight, and revelation, is captured in a Sufi phrase, “the smiling forehead.” For illumination is always linked with a kind of smile, like the mysterious, lingering smile of the Buddha. 
— Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan in Awakening: A Sufi Experience

The atom’s soul is nothing but energy. Spirit blazes in the dullest clay. The life of every man — the heart of it — is pure and holy joy. 
— George Leonard quoted in Shadow Culture by Eugene Taylor

Joy clarifies everything. 
How many times have I found myself quite simply walking along. And suddenly I receive one of these gusts of contentment, of, so to say, “joy” or “well-being,” which is a marvelous feeling because one has no idea where it comes from. 
— Jacques Lusseyran in Against the Pollution of the I

The announcement is the great joy that the Lord is present and living in the world: that the Lord is with us. Dominus vobiscum, the Lord be with you. This is what we are constantly announcing in the liturgy, that the Lord is present in the world. 
— Thomas Merton quoted in Thomas Merton: Essential Writings edited by Christine M. Bochen