109 Quotes About Joy

Joy can be found in so many parts of life: time with family, the kindness of a friend, a beautiful day, or a moment of gratitude. These quotes about joy remind us that even when life is difficult, there are still reasons to smile and be thankful.

As you read these thoughts from poets and writers, may they encourage you to notice the good around you, treasure happy memories, and share a little joy with someone else.

Updated October 9, 2026, by Catherine Pulsifer.

Finding Joy In Everyday Life

Even simple moments can give us reasons to be grateful.

When the sun of joy is hidden.....just remember light is coming and a storm can never last.
J. B. Smiley, Storms Never Last

Friendship curls around your heart and joy replaces gloom, it gives your life a sense of peace and calm.
Greta Zwaan, Around Your Heart

The ups and downs of this life are many, but the joys obscured from sight, by trials and troubles unknown to any, are continually brought to light.
Lillian E Curtis, The Bright Sider

Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.
Karl Barth

Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home... it's your responsibility to love it, or change it.
Chuck Palahniuk

Joy is not the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God.
Robert Schuller

With every hearty laugh, a dose so sweet, spreading joy and happiness, a wondrous feat!
Catherine Pulsifer, An Amusing Sight

Longer daylight hours make us thrilled...excitement is in the air, we can't deny; April has brought joy and wonder nigh!
Catherine Pulsifer, Nature Awakens

Love, joy and kindness, and hearty good cheer, were the seeds that were sown and flowered here.
Helen A. Fussell, A Garden Fair

A ceaseless chirp and twitter on the frosty air I heard - the sparrows' morning blessing! And my heart with joy was stirred
Unknown, Scattering Crumbs

When I think of you, I recall the laughter we shared - the troubles we aired - the joy and the tears
Catherine Pulsifer, When I Think Of You

The acorn does not know that it will become a sapling. The sapling does not remember when it was an acorn, and only dimly senses that it will become a mighty oak. The oak recalls fondly when it was a sapling, loves being a mighty oak, and joyfully creates new acorns.
J. Earp

At birth, we boarded the train of life...this train ride has been a mixture of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, goodbyes, and farewells.
Jean d'Ormesson

Come and taste cold-weather joys - bring your sleds and bring your skates. Hasten now while winter waits.
Cobb, Winter Waits

Age may come, but joy won't leave!
Catherine Pulsifer, Age May Come But...

May your joys be deep and many, may your heart be light and glad
Julie Garwood, An Irish Wish for St. Patricks Day

To owe nobody anything? Well, that is not for me! 'Twould take away, I rather fear, quite half the joy of life.
John Kendrick Bangs, In Sorry Plight

Joys we share with one another we'll remember, you and I.
Edgar A. Guest, Memories of Tomorrow

Joy In Love And Family

Some of our happiest memories come from those we love.

A joyous occasion that shouldn’t be debated - now marking your seventieth, you are celebrated!
Catherine Pulsifer, The Clock Strikes Seventy

It's Easter that brings joy, peace and bliss; a reminder of how life can truly go on.
Catherine Pulsifer, Reason To Feel Glad

We try by words to faintly tell what feelings in our hearts do dwell. But none can speak the joy of mine In calling thee my "Valentine."
M. E. B., For A Valentine

Oh, sweet rose...You bring us joy and peace
Catherine Pulsifer, The Flower Of Love

This precious life to Mother is so fine, her greatest joy throughout the years!
Catherine Pulsifer, Deep And True

Grandpa always said, I was the joy of his life. I then asked him, "what joy meant", and he always replied, "You."
Catherine Pulsifer

My heart is full of joy today, to celebrate life in every way
Catherine Pulsifer, Your 75th Year

Life's joys are yet to unfurl time ahead of you to twirl - don't worry about the years that past enjoy middle age and all that lasts!
Catherine Pulsifer, Age Forty

And with song in your heart and the meal in—its place, there‘ll be joy in your bosom and light in your face.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, Just Whistle A Bit

Our lives are full of joys that can be seen, if we observe closely and choose to believe.
Catherine Pulsifer, Time Flies By

My heart is filled with joy and pride, when I am by your side.
Catherine Pulsifer, Your Special Day

Live for something, be not idle...sit not down to useless dreaming,--labor is the sweetest joy.
Unknown, Live For Something

Acts of kindness can be like little lights...if we share the joy and give a kind word, the world becomes better
Catherine Pulsifer, A Better Place

Holidays are full of joy and cheer, as we look forward to them every year.
Catherine Pulsifer, Holidays And Family

May the joy of Christmas fill you with cheer, and may you be surrounded by those who are dear.
Catherine Pulsifer, The Spirit of Christmas

Much joy for this day on which you graduate, your future looks so promising and so grand
Catherine Pulsifer, We Are Thrilled For You

We sing carols off-key; laughter fills the air, Christmas chaos and joy, a perfect pair!
Catherine Pulsifer, Families Unite

The joys in my life are my granddaughters. They are beautiful.
Dom DeLuise

Joy In Celebrations And Special Moments

Milestones and traditions bring people together.

But all the human joys that thrill in ecstasy divine would be but sorry grief until I held your hand in mine.
Nixon Waterman, A Love Song

You don't begrudge the trials grim when joy has come to you
Edgar A. Guest, The Price Of Joy

Joy and hope and courage strong - mixed with love your whole life long,
Unknown, A Recipe for Happiness

You deliver the right gifts to every child, perfectly. So please Santa, keep up this incredible feat, because the joy of receiving is oh so sweet!
Catherine Pulsifer, Mix Up Presents

Reading was a joy, a desperately needed escape — I didn’t read to learn, I was reading to read.
Christian Bauman

But there isn't any music that such wondrous joy can bring like the concert when the kiddies and their mother start to sing.
Edgar A. Guest, Real Singing

Retirement's here, and joy it does bring, no more early mornings, what a wonderful thing!
Catherine Pulsifer, Finally My Retirement

Christmas is a time of sharing, and joy and grace. There's no better time to entertain family and friends than now.
Shelley Shepard Gray

Share your joys with others. It always takes two to be glad.
Unknown

Wear a pleasant face wherein shall shine a joyful heart, as shines the sun, the happy fields adorning
Nixon Waterman, Gladness Every Morning

The joybells are ringing, for Christmas is near, to every one bringing, its joy and its cheer,
Helen Ekin Starrett, A Christmas Carol

What Is Peace...a rest wherein all discords cease and tranquil joys with love increase
R. L. Atustin

Always, be willing to share your joys. Be willing to share the sorrows of others.
Unknown, Always Be

"What is heaven?" I asked a little child; "All joy!" and in her innocence she smiled.
Unknown, What Is Heaven?

I want to be the grandmother who plays inside and outside, experiencing joy with each grandchild, according to his or her personality and interests.
Sharon Carpenter

When I look up to the sky all I see are twinkling stars. When I look up to the sky my heart is filled with love and joy.
Jenny Ford

A song is but a little thing, and yet what joy it is to sing!
Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Poet And His Song

The Joy Of Friendship And Sharing

Joy often grows when it is shared with others.

Your wonderful love, O my sweetheart, brings joy to each hour of my life
David V. Bush, Till Death Do Us Part

Life has bright days for thee in store; like stars thine eyes shine and dance with glee, in joy may they sparkle evermore.
Eloise A. Skimings, Happy New Year To You

A baby is a dancing joy of life.
Debasish Mridha

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.
Richard Bach

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.
Claude Monet

Yes, motherhood's brilliance stands above the rest, a garden of joy where love is expressed.
Catherine Pulsifer, Motherhood And Grandchildren

Welcome be Thanksgiving with its manifold feasts and joys; under many a homestead roof now gather the girls and boys;
Edward Sherwood Creamer, Thanksgiving Day

...some friend with cheerful voice is glad to share my bit of care and give me reason to rejoice.
Edgar A. Guest

Love is...the key to joy and sorrow, and the recompense for all the ills that have been, or may be.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Humor their compass, mischief their guide, these seniors navigate with joy as their tide.
Catherine Pulsifer, Sea Of Laughter

For my mother's heart was honey...her smile was full of joy, and life was dear when she was near and I a little boy.
Nixon Waterman, When She Was Near

Oh joyous be your Christmas-tide, and bright your New Year, too
J. S. Ogilvie

Autumn is as joyful and sweet as an untimely end.
Rémy de Gourmont

I've had my share of fishing joy, I've fished with patent bait. With chub and minnow, but the boy is lord of sport's estate
Edgar A. Guest, The Real Bait

A garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy
Luis Barragan

What joy the fact when it cometh first...when the truth upon us burst, that we've a new-found friend.
Lillian E Curtis, A Friend

Would you remain always young, and would you carry all joy and buoyancy of youth into your maturer years? Then have care concerning but one thing - how you live in your thought world.
R. W. Trine

Like April's unpredictable weather, let life surprise you with moments of joy.
Sam R. V. Gould

Choosing Joy Through Life’s Changes

Encouragement can help us find hope in difficult seasons.

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.
Charles Dickens

Christmas is a time of joy mainly for all the girls and boys - fun and laughter fills the day -Merry Christmas as they say.
Catherine Pulsifer, Keep The Spirit

Old "Yesterday" has lived its life why linger 'mid its sorrow? It bears no part in future joy. Forget it for - tomorrow.
Jesse E. Campeil, Forget It

Let never a worldly babble keep your heart from the joy each day should reap, circling young lives with sweetness.
Unknown, Make Childhood Sweet

Wisdom teaches...the joy of sharing
William Arthur Ward, Wisdom Teaches

How gladly would I give my life to bring you joy once more
David V. Bush, Though Jilted, Still I Love

Health be yours, joy be yours, ever and aye.
Unknown

It is monotony which eats the heart out of joy, destroys the buoyancy of the spirit, and turns hope to ashes; it is monotony which saps the vitality of the emotions; depletes the energy of the will, and finally turns the miracle of daily existence into dreary commonplace. And monotony has its roots, not in our conditions, but in ourselves.
Hamilton Wright Mabie

May we know the joy, when night shall come, of having accomplished something worthy.
Frank W. Whippen

Love is a rose of joy, it blooms without strife
J. J. Thorne

I like Christmas, for it brings lots of joy; little children are happy over every Christmas toy.
Judy K. Owen, Christmas

When we lose the joy of life, we can but pray and pine, in toil, trouble, care and strife, for a contented mind.
J. J. Thorne, Sweet Is Contentment

If every day of yours were fine and every sky of yours were blue. You couldn't know such joy of mine. The joy of being friend to you.
Edgar A. Guest, A Greeting

O Spring-tide ...we drink thy joys drawn from above, and breathe thy life thus lent.
Anna K. Thomas, Spring Comes

There is no beautifier in form or behavior like the wish to scatter joy, and not pain, around us.
Emerson

How much joy and comfort we can all bestow if we scatter sunshine everywhere we go.
Lanta Wilson Smith, Scatter Sunshine

You gave me joy and all good things, you are a mother with angel's wings.
Jack Coit, My Mother

For the children, Christmas brings lots of toys....for the adults, we love the feeling of joy cherish the moments, enjoy the day!
Julie Hebert, The Joys of Christmas

Tis by the heart the secret's told, 'tis by the smile we're young or old, 'tis as the life its joy shall hold
F. W. Sanderson, When We Are Old

Joy, Gratitude And A Positive Outlook

These final thoughts remind us to look for the good each day.

Welcome, little rain-drops, joy and gladness bring...for the song you sing.
Cobb, The April Rain

My cup of joy seems full to overflowing, yet may I see sorrow and tears, but alike in all the coming years, in love and patience will I be growing
Lillian E. Curtis

A kind voice is joy, like a lark's song, to a hearth at home. It is a light that sings as well as shines. Train it to sweet tones now, and it will keep in tune through life.
Elihu Burritt

And would you have the greatest joy, a joy that you can lend? Go slip your hand into his palm and say, "I am your friend."
David V. Bush, How To Have Friends

The wise man gets what joy he can, and leaves the fool his folly. He knows too much to waste his life in gloom and melancholy.
Unknown, Good In The Day

...the finest joy, indeed, is seeing some one else succeed.
Strickland Gillilan

The month of July, oh how it hums, bringing warmth and joy to everyone.
Catherine Pulsifer, The Month Of July

Give me the house where the toys are seen, the house where the children romp...let me see the litter of bright-eyed play strewn over the parlor floor, and the joys I knew in a far-off day
Edgar A. Guest, Home and the Baby

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word – excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.
Pearl S. Buck

May the season bring joy, for all you do. As you deserve only the best, and that's so very true.
Catherine Pulsifer

O words of sparkling power, of insight full and deep...lift the lives to songs of joy that only droop and weep?
Frances Ridley Havergal, The Splendor Of God's Will

Think joy, and joy ne'er ends; think gloom, and dusk descends.
David V. Bush, Think Right

We shall have our joy though the goal we miss, with someone to care.
Douglas Malloch, Someone To Care

Troubles? Sure I've lots of them...don't care to discuss 'em now - rather tell my joys to you.
Edgar A. Guest, Troubles?

I will cast life's cares away, take my fill of joy to-day.
Daniel C. Colesworthy, Beauty Everywhere

Once in a while from where we stand the hills of Paradise are seen; and a perfect joy in our hearts we hold, a joy that the world cannot defile
Nixon Waterman, Once In A While

The summer day has closed; the sun is set...Mothers have clasped with joy the newborn babe
William Cullen Bryant, Summer Evening

We make the pangs we daily feel...when, should we bid our fears be still, joy would give quick relief.
Daniel C. Colesworthy, Never Yield To Sorrow

Joy is the sunshine of the soul. Grief its showers.
Unknown, Joy Is

Conclusion

We hope these quotes about joy have reminded you of the many reasons to be thankful. Joy can come from a friend's kindness, a family memory, a new beginning, or simply taking time to appreciate today. May you find something to smile about and share that happiness with others.

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