J. Richard Lessor

20th century · American social worker, author & motivational speaker

J. Richard Lessor was an American social worker, author, and speaker to whom the Walden Woods Project attributes the modern “butterfly” wording, which spread on motivational posters produced by Argus Communications in the 1970s. The quote does not appear in any of his published books, and the underlying image — happiness as a butterfly that eludes pursuit but alights when you sit quietly — is far older, tracing to an anonymous 1848 newspaper item. Neither Thoreau nor Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two authors most often credited, wrote it.

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1 quote we’ve traced

“Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder”

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