Translate part of a quote

[Zainajenkins]

I'm just looking for an accurate translation for part of a quote that says "happiness never decreases by being shared" and am wondering if that were translated would it keep its meaning/poetic form? (If that makes sense) traditional hanzi is preferred here as it is possibly for a tattoo.

[Kamille]

http://fakebuddhaquotes.com/thousands-of-candles-can-be-lighted-from-a-single-candle-and-the-life-of-the-single-candle-will-not-be-shortened-happiness-never-decreases-by-being-shared/

 

So, some people translate it as "千百支蜡烛能被一支蜡烛点燃，而那支蜡烛的生命不会因此缩短。 快乐也如此，不会因分享而减弱", but this seems to be a very unofficial translation, not really used (and the reason why is in the link above). So,according to this site (and fakebuddhaquotes.com), the closest that there is in the Sutras is "譬如一炬之火，数千百人各以炬分取，熟食除冥。此炬如故；福亦如之。". This is documented. It is apparently rendered in English as: "It is like a lighted torch whose flame can be distributed to ever so many other torches which people may bring along; and therewith they will cook food and dispel darkness, while the original torch itself remains burning ever the same. It is even so with the bliss of the Way" (this is the English translation found on fakebuddhaquotes.com, which, I believe, is the official one, though I personally don't agree with it since there's nothing about "The Way" in the original Chinese quote: that bit was added in the English translation out of the blue).

[skylee]

Also consider 獨樂樂不如眾樂樂. Nowadays this is commonly interpreted as it is good to share happiness although originally it carries other meanings (about sharing music). It is from Mengzi/Mencius.