World Happiness Day sentiments

... when you share it." This calendar saying comes from Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), a doctor of philosophy, theology and medicine. In 1913, the German-French physician founded a hospital in the Central African country of Gabon, where he practiced medicine for several years. Later, the pacifist campaigned against nuclear weapons and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

... but to do our duty." The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724- 1804) took his duties as a professor and scholar very seriously. His daily routine was clearly structured and he took a walk at the same time every day. He is best known for his work "Critique of Pure Reason."

... from which you can cut off your slice every day!" This quote comes from the "Fairy Tale of Happiness" by German writer Erich Kästner (1899-1974). It revolves around a man who has three wishes at his disposal but doesn't want to realize the last, which was to fulfil all one's heart desires. Will having everything you want bring the greatest happiness?

... they are happiness and are the world." The writer Theodor Fontane (1819- 1898) saw much of the world and even lived in London for a time. In the end, however, he always returned to his beloved Prussian homeland, which he described in many texts. His novel "Effi Briest" is now school reading material and made him one of the most famous German writers.

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) suffered several severe blows of fate during World War One. His three-year-old son was diagnosed with meningitis; his wife suffered from schizophrenia and was institutionalized; and his father died. His belief that artists and intellectuals did not do enough to oppose the war further enraged him. He attempted to come to terms with these life tragedies in his novels.

but the fruit of inner attitude." Erich Fromm (1900-1980) was convinced of this. The German-Jewish psychologist emigrated to the US in 1934, became an American citizen, taught first at New York's Columbia University and later in Mexico City. With his bestseller "The Art of Loving," he also made a name for himself outside of academia.

... than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness." Physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) wrote this notion on a piece of paper in 1922 and handed it to a hotel servant in Tokyo, perhaps instead of a tip. Some 100 years later, the note was auctioned off, changing hands for a handsome $1.56 million (€1.46 million).

The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) understood great emotions, whether in "Faust," in his novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther," or in his love poetry. His poem "Freudvoll und leidvoll" (Joyful and Sorrowful), from which the happiness quote comes, was described by literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki as "the most perfect erotic poem in the German language."