Blurbs on Happiness (all I know on it):

• Happiness is another one of those bad terms, bad in the sense that it could hardly be defined, or that there isn’t a clear-cut criteria for it.  Like “life”.  That’s why “What is the meaning of life?” is the most-asked question and “What is happiness?” is the second.
• The most insightful quote on happiness (except this is paraphrased and thus not a quote): Be ready for a world of pain if you expect someone else to bring you happiness… it’ll never last and just like for everything else you can only depend on yourself.
• Happiness…is not a fish that you can catch.  By Our Lady Peace.
• Happiness is not forever.  It is not a diamond.  Even diamonds could only produce temporary happiness.  This stems from people always wanting what they can’t have or don’t have.  Human nature is not designed to be compatible with happiness.  So that means happiness is relative (i.e. one could really only attain happiness by comparing down… to others less fortunate,  to less satisfactory moments, etc.), and not absolute.   That is why people in poorer countries are more happy; the fact that they are info-deprived enables them to not know what they don’t have.  Hence the saying “ignorance is bliss”.  This is a proper time to use the term “ironic”.
• It’s probably not possible to achieve long-term (relatively) happiness if you couldn’t even get short-term happiness with where you’re at.  But I’m not sure.
• To know what makes you happy, you must consciously realize that you’re happy, when you are.  But happiness is often fleeting and it’s easy to let slip that meta-happiness (happy being happy) moment.  Perhaps you could only know it when you’re yearning for the thing that made you happy, but that doesn’t always happen either.
• After all this it’s still better to believe some individuals have truly felt happy by the end of their lives.  Like maybe Ghandi or Mother Teresa.  But only they would know.