True or false: happy wife, happy life?

I can envision scenarios where it’s probably not true.

If your wife would only be happy after leaving you and you would be miserable if she did that, she would be happy and you wouldn’t: false, in this case.

If you’re struggling with clinical depression or another serious health problem that significantly degrades the quality of your life, you’d be miserable no matter how happy your wife is: this one is also false.

If your happy wife suffered a catastrophic injury or health situation that significantly degraded the quality of her life, that situation might make “happiness” a very unlikely scenario for you both. Maybe you could rebuild a happy life, depending on your and her resilience and commitment.

If you’re abusive, dishonest, and/or a bigot, you don’t have the ability to make anyone happy besides yourself: true, in this instance (if she leaves you and we’re talking only about her happiness); false, if she leaves you and you’re still an unrepentant asshole; maybe, if you take this as an opportunity to radically change your ways and become a decent person she’d be proud to be with.

If your wife is abusive, dishonest, and/or a bigot, she doesn’t have the ability to make anyone happy besides herself: false, because her happiness would cost you your own.

This adage is neither true nor false. It depends on the situation and the people involved.