If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.

We have reviewed the most authoritative collections of Albert Einstein's words, including Alice Calaprice's *The Ultimate Quotable Einstein*, which includes this sentiment under a reference to archival interview material labeled "E. E. K." rather than a direct published work or transcript by the physicist himself. While modern educational textbooks and popular compilations widely reproduce the line as an authentic Einstein quotation, we found no verbatim match in his primary correspondence, speeches, or major essays where he explicitly wrote these exact words. Our investigation into competing origins revealed that while similar sentiments on purpose exist in psychological literature, there is no documented evidence of a stronger alternative authorship for this specific phrasing prior to its popularization decades after Einstein's death. Although the quote lacks the rigorous documentation required for full verification against a direct primary source, it appears consistently across reputable secondary sources and archival notes without clear evidence that another individual actually originated these words first. On the available evidence, we consider this quotation attributed.