Can we choose to be happy?

Chris and I were arguing about this yesterday evening. Chris shocked me by saying he couldn't imagine how anyone could make such a deliberate choice, arguing that happiness was more likely an “emergent property” of lucky circumstances. I, on the other hand, have believed otherwise for most of my adult life, and today I discover that, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong in awfully good company. 

Here are some quotations I found:

“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Abraham Lincoln

“Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.”
Spinoza

“The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human can alter his life by altering his attitude.”
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”
William James (1842-1910)

“Seek to know an inward stillness, even amid the activities of daily life. …. Live adventurously. …. Approach old age with courage and hope. … Consider which of the ways to happiness offered by society are truly fulfilling [...] Be discriminating when choosing means of entertainment and information ... A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. … Rejoice in the splendour of God’s continuing creation ...  then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.”
― Quaker Advices and Queries

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
Proverbs 17, v. 22

That quotation reminds me of Beatrice in Act 2, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'.

“DON PEDRO: Truly, lady, you have a merry heart.
 BEATRICE: Yea, my lord. I thank it, poor fool, it keeps on the windy side of care.”

“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Phillippians 4, v. 8

“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.”
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
 “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.”
“Let us endeavor so to live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
Mark Twain

“The greatest honour we can give Almighty God is to live gladly."
“You shall see for yourself that all manner of things shall be well. [...] Pay attention to this now, faithfully and confidently, and at the end of time you will truly see it in the fullness of joy.”
Julian of Norwich (14th century British anchoress)

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
G.K. Chesterton

“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
Charles Dickens

“This a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before.”
Maya Angelou

“Adventurous men enjoy shipwrecks, mutinies, earthquakes, conflagrations, and all kinds of unpleasant experiences, provided they do not go so far as to impair health. They say to themselves in an earthquake, for example, ‘So that is what an earthquake is like,‘ and it gives them pleasure to have their knowledge of the world increased by this new item.”
Bertrand Russell: Conquest of Happiness

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
“Although you may not always be able to avoid difficult situations, you can modify the extent to which you can suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation.
“Happiness is determined more by one's state of mind than by external events.”
“The purpose of our life needs to be positive. We weren't born with the purpose of causing trouble, harming others. For our life to be of value, I think we must develop basic good human qualities—warmth, kindness, compassion. Then our life becomes meaningful and more peaceful—happier.”
Dalai Lama XIV: The Art of Happiness

“Non s'efforcer vers le plaisir mais trouver son plaisir dans l'effort même, c'est le secret de mon bonheur.”
“Ne peut rien pour le bonheur d'autrui celui qui ne sait être heureux lui-même.”
André Gide

I too have learned that we cannot nudge the people with whom we interact towards happiness unless we first contrive to be happy ourselves. The artist I met a few years ago at Ste. Flavie in Quebec said exactly that in one of his poems:

“Pour rendre les autres heureux, je dois l'être d'abord.”
Marcel Gagnon

“A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?”
“All that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”
“Learn to be happy through the good fortunes and joys of your friends and not through senseless quarrels. If you allow these natural feelings to blossom within you, your every burden will seem lighter or more bearable to you, you will find your own way through patience, and you will spread joy everywhere.”
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”
“I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves - such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals that have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face live cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness and Beauty.”
Albert Einstein

“I've spent my life observing the universe, mostly in my mind's eye. It's been a tremendously rewarding life, a wonderful life. I've been able to explore the origins of time and space with some of the great living thinkers. But I wish I were a poet. [...] It's a shame we live on different continents. [...] It's so beautiful at this hour. The sun is low, the shadows are long, the air is cold and clean. You won't be awake for another five hours, but I can't help feeling that we're sharing this clear and beautiful morning.
Your friend,
Stephen Hawking”

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.”
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
Gandhi