Daniel Gilbert Quotes

Quotes about:

• Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished. The person you are right now is as transient, as fleeting and as temporary as all the people you’re ever been. The one constant in our lives is change.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Life, Change, Mistake

  "When Do We Become The Final Version of Ourselves?". "TED Radio Hour" with Guy Rez, www.npr.org. June 19, 2015.

  70 Copy quote

• People are happiest when they're trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach.

  Daniel Gilbert

  People, Goal, Trying

  Harvard Business Review, Daniel Gilbert, Annie McKee, Gretchen Spreitzer, Teresa Amabile (2017). “Happiness (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)”, p.25, Harvard Business Press

  22 Copy quote

• The truth is, bad things don't affect us as profoundly as we expect them to. That's true of good things, too. We adapt very quickly to either.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Truth Is, Good Things, Bad Things

  6 Copy quote

• Your emotions are meant to fluctuate, just like your blood pressure is meant to fluctuate. It's a system that's supposed to move back and forth, between happy and unhappy. That's how the system guides you through the world.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Moving, Blood, Unhappy

  32 Copy quote

• Reality' is a movie generated by our brains. Because we don't realize this, we are far too confident that the stuff appearing in the movie is actually 'out there' in the world when, in fact, it's not.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Reality, Brain, World

  10 Copy quote

• What’s so curious about human beings is that we can look deeply into the future, foresee disaster, and still do nothing in the present to stop it. The majority of people on this planet, they’re overwhelmed with concerns about their immediate well being.

  Daniel Gilbert

  People, Majority, Looks

  4 Copy quote

• People are drastically overconfident about their judgments of others.

  Daniel Gilbert

  People, Criticism, Judgment

  82 Copy quote

• The brain and the eye may have a contractual relationship in which the brain has agreed to believe what the eye sees, but in return the eye has agreed to look for what the brain wants.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Believe, Eye, Brain

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, Vintage

  23 Copy quote

• We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Thinking, Family And Friends, Way

  "How To Be Happier In Life" by Eric Barker, www.askmen.com.

  27 Copy quote

• If someone offered you a pill that would make you permanently happy, you would be well advised to run fast and run far. Emotion is a compass that tells us what to do, and a compass that perpetually stuck on north is worthless.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Running, Pills, Would Be

  16 Copy quote

• Perceptions are portraits, not photographs, and their form reveals the artist’s hand every bit as much as it reflects the things portrayed

  Daniel Gilbert

  Artist, Hands, Perception

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.85, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

• Part of us believes the new car is better because it lasts longer. But, in fact, that's the worst thing about the new car. It will stay around to disappoint you, whereas a trip to Europe is over. It evaporates. It has the good sense to go away, and you are left with nothing but a wonderful memory.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Memories, Believe, Europe

  16 Copy quote

• People want to be happy, and all the other things they want are typically meant to be a means to that end.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Mean, People, Want

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.34, Vintage

  21 Copy quote

• Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Thinking, Progress, Humans

  "When Do We Become The Final Version of Ourselves?". "TED Radio Hour" with Guy Rez, www.npr.org. June 19, 2015.

  15 Copy quote

• Our brain accepts what the eyes see and our eye looks for whatever our brain wants.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Eye, Brain, Looks

  20 Copy quote

• The good news is that going blind is not going to make you as unhappy as you think it will. The bad news is that winning the lottery will not make you as happy as you expect.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Thinking, Winning, Unhappy

  21 Copy quote

• The secret of happiness is variety, but the secret of variety, like the secret of all spices, is knowing when to use it.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Happiness, Knowing, Secret

  21 Copy quote

• If I wanted to know what a certain future would feel like to me, I would find someone who is already living that future. If I wonder what it's like to become a lawyer or marry a busy executive or eat at a particular restaurant, my best bet is to find people who have actually done these things and see how happy they are.

  Daniel Gilbert

  People, Done, Lawyer

  "Happiness: The elusive emotion". CNN Interview, www.cnn.com. November 20, 2006.

  19 Copy quote

• Alas, we think of ourselves as unique entities-minds unlike any others-and thus we often reject the lessons that the emotional experience of others has to teach us.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Unique, Emotional, Thinking

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.233, Vintage

  7 Copy quote

• We treat our future selves as though they were our children, spending most of the hours of most of our days constructing tomorrows that we hope will make them happy

  Daniel Gilbert

  Children, Self, Tomorrow

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.13, Vintage

  16 Copy quote

• Your mistake was not in imagining things you could not know—that is, after all, what imagination is for. Rather, your mistake was in unthinkingly treating what you imagined as though it were an accurate representation of the facts.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Mistake, Imagination, Facts

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.94, Vintage

  18 Copy quote

• Research suggests that people are typically unaware of the reasons why they are doing what they are doing, but when asked for a reason, they readily supply one.

  Daniel Gilbert

  People, Religion, Research

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, Vintage

  7 Copy quote

• I actually think the same things do make most people happy. The differences are extremely small, and around the margins. You like peach ice cream; I like strawberry ice cream. Both of us like ice cream much better than a smack on the head with two-by-four.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Thinking, Ice Cream, Two

  16 Copy quote

• If you are like most people, then like most people, you don't know you're like most people.

  Daniel Gilbert

  People, Stumbling, Knows

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.229, Vintage

  15 Copy quote

• Lower your cortisol level. The happiest people have the lowest level of cortisol, a stress hormone that raises blood pressure and weakens the immune system. Cut the stress-more yoga, less road rage-and you'll cut your cortisol production.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Happiness, Stress, Yoga

  8 Copy quote

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