Stumbling on Happiness is a book that was written by Daniel Gilbert. Since it’s publication in 2006, it has went on to change many lives, become a New York Times Bestseller, and be translated into dozens of languages. The book itself is all about how to become happy and what role your imagination plays in the journey. Here is a collection of some of the inspiring quotes from this book.
“Arthritic toothless people who love orgasms are more likely to reproduce than are limber, toothy people who do not.”
“Because we don’t realize that our psychological immune systems can rationalize an excess of courage more easily than an excess of cowardice, we hedge our bets when we should blunder
forward.”
“Each of us is trapped in a place, a time and a circumstance and our attempt to use our mind to transcend those boundaries are more often than not ineffective.”
“Future events may request access to the emotional areas of our brains, but current events almost always get the right of way.”
Human nature 101: We struggle mightily to view information objectively (from Dan Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness). pic.twitter.com/H7RPZkcvyg
— Dan Sweeney (@dps831) September 12, 2015
“If you are like most people, then like most people, you don’t know you’re like most people.”
“In short, if we adhere to the standard of perfection in all our endeavors, we are left with nothing but mathematics and the White Album.”
“In short, we derive support for our preferred conclusions by listening to the words that we put in the mouths of people who have already been preselected for their willingness to say
what we want to hear.”
“Most of us appear to believe that we are more athletic, intelligent, organized, ethical, logical, interesting, open-minded, and healthy-not to mention more attractive-than the average person.”
“My friends tell me that I have a tendency to point out problems without offering solutions, but they never tell me what I should do about it.”
“Once we have an experience, we cannot simply set it aside and see the world as we would have seen it had the experience never happened.”
“Our brain accepts what the eyes see and our eye looks for whatever our brain wants.”
“Our inability to recall how we really felt is why our wealth of experiences turns out to be poverty of riches.”
“People want to be happy, and all the other things they want are typically meant to be a means to that end.”
“Perceptions are portraits, not photographs, and their form reveals the artist’s hand every bit as much as it reflects the things portrayed.”
Weekend Reading: Stumbling on Happiness. pic.twitter.com/Thjk3LZSTn
— Hamid Ghanbari (@HamidGhanbariMD) September 5, 2015
“Psychologists call this habituation, economists call it declining marginal utility, and the rest of us call it marriage.”
“Studies such as these demonstrate that once we have an experience, we cannot simply set it aside and see the world as we would have seen it had the experience never happened.”
“The average newspaper boy in Pittsburgh knows more about the universe than did Galileo, Aristotle, Leonardo, or any of those other guys who were so smart they only needed one name.”
“The fact that we often judge the pleasure of an experience by its ending can cause us to make some curious choices.”
“The human being is the only animal that thinks about the future.”
“The reality of the moment is so palpable and powerful that it holds imagination in a tight orbit from which it never fully escapes.”
“Why isn’t it fun to watch a videotape of last night’s football game even when we don’t know who won? Because the fact that the game has already been played precludes the possibility
that our cheering will somehow penetrate the television, travel through the cable system, find its way to the stadium, and influence the trajectory of the ball as it hurtles toward
the goalposts!”
This wonderful Youtube video is all about how Stumbling On Happiness can change the way you view the very work.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this wonderful collection of my favorite 21 Stumbling on Happiness quotes.
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