Gross national happiness

"Today, there is an increasing need for an integrated solution to problems and GNH provides a systematic approach. In a world drenched with materialism, the human heart yearns for something beyond material possessions, and that is one of the reasons that GNH is attracting so many people."

"The pursuit of happiness is a deeply moral obligation, on both the personal and the national level... we have the right to pursue happiness. But we also have an ethical responsibility to exercise that right, and to guide our values, policies, and politics as a nation in a way that makes it possible for our fellow-citizens and those around the world to pursue happiness as well."

"The Gross National Happiness Index is often used by cities, campuses, communities, companies and other groups to assess their area or group's well-being."

"Our philosophical mission of maintaining GNH generates great interest, yet it creates more responsibility to us in Bhutan to ensure that we don’t lose that special and unique perspective for our country. So how does GNH translate to life in Bhutan? GNH comprises four pillars: Conservation of the Environment, Equitable and Sustainable Development, Good Governance, and Preservation of Culture."

"To help the government in its meaningful work to achieve Bhutan’s development goal of Gross National Happiness and to continue the development success the country has achieved so far, the Bhutan Foundation aligns its programs to support initiatives under all four pillars of GNH."

"Bhutan measures prosperity by gauging its citizens' happiness levels, not the GDP. Now its ideas are attracting interest at the UN climate change conference in Doha."

"Since 1971, the country [Bhutan] has rejected GDP as the only way to measure progress. In its place, it has championed a new approach to development, which measures prosperity through formal principles of gross national happiness (GNH) and the spiritual, physical, social and environmental health of its citizens and natural environment."

"This remote kingdom, a place of ancient monasteries, fluttering prayer flags and staggering natural beauty. Less than 40 years ago, Bhutan opened its borders for the first time. Since then, it has gained an almost mythical status as a real-life Shangri-La, largely for its determined and methodical pursuit of the most elusive of concepts – national happiness."

"The level and extent of global interest in Gross National Happiness in the wake of the General Assembly resolution and the Bhutan-sponsored High Level Meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York on April 2, 2012 have been truly astounding and inspiring as well as deeply humbling. Some of the finest minds in the world today are engaged in exploring and understanding the scope and sweep of this revolutionary ideal of human well-being and societal progress."

"Gross National Happiness is a function of personal decisions and individual actions as surely as little drops of water make the mighty ocean. Gross National Happiness is more than an antidote to Gross National Product. It is an anodyne that can heal the wounds of our ailing planet and still the tooth that nibbles at the soul."

"Gross National Happiness’ is one of the most beautiful and inclusive expressions in the corpus of the 21st century sustainable development discourse. Today, GNH is more than a confluence of three loaded terms that define the vision of one country. It carries a meaning that is universal in scope and compelling in relevance."

"Although the term “Gross National Happiness” was first coined by the Fourth King of Bhutan the concept has a much longer resonance in the Kingdom of Bhutan. The 1729 legal code, which dates from the unification of Bhutan, declared that “if the Government can not create happiness (dekid) for its people, there is no purpose or the Government to exist"."