"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice…

“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream” (or “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy ice cream”) is a popular saying that has been printed on posters. The saying is of unknown authorship and has been cited in print since at least 2007, but became popular on blogs since 2010.

Frequent endings include “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream and that’s kind of the same thing” and “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream, and I’m not ready to live in a world where there’s a difference” and “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream and that’s close enough, right?”

“If money can’t buy happiness, explain pizza” is a related saying.

Topix Forums—Local News (Omaha, NE)
lori
Sep 2, 2007
(...)
29-You can’t buy HAPPINESS but you can buy ICE CREAM… that’s close enough right?

arewein
you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream…
March 19, 2010

If I Were…
FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2010
You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice-cream and that’s kind of the same thing.

Mishtown
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010
They say that money can’t buy happiness. But money can buy ice cream, and I’m not ready to live in a world where there’s a difference.

So ordinary life
4/27/2011
You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream and that’s kind of the same thing

Sourabh Upalekar
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012
“YOU CAN’T BUY HAPPINESS, BUT YOU CAN BUY ICE CREAM… AND THAT’S KIND OF THE SAME THING!!” :D

this & that
September 2, 2012
The Scoop on Ice Cream
Summer may be over but there’s still plenty of time left for ice cream season. As a recently popular bumper sticker proclaims, “you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream. And that’s kind of the same thing.”