Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.

Kant makes this remark in the context of his critical moral philosophy, where he sharply distinguishes ethics from prudential “happiness-maximizing” advice. In the late 1780s–1790s, as he develops the view that morality is grounded in pure practical reason and expressed through the categorical imperative, he argues that virtue cannot be reduced to a technique for achieving well-being. Instead, moral law commands unconditionally, regardless of our inclinations. The line is typically cited to capture Kant’s insistence that the proper aim of ethics is the formation of a good will—making oneself deserving of happiness—rather than securing happiness as an outcome.

The quote encapsulates Kant’s separation of morality from self-interested happiness. Happiness is contingent and varies by temperament and situation, so it cannot serve as the foundation of a universal ethical law. Morality instead concerns the worthiness of happiness: acting from duty, with a good will, in accordance with principles one could will as universal law. The significance is twofold: it rejects ethical systems that treat virtue as a technique for personal satisfaction, and it reframes ethics as a demand of rational autonomy. Happiness may be a fitting outcome, but it is not the criterion of right action.