Finding permanent and universal causes for misfortune is the practice of despair. Martin Seligman More Quotes by Martin Seligman More Quotes From Martin Seligman Positive thinking is the notion that if you think good thoughts, things will work out well. Optimism is the feeling of thinking things will be well and be hopeful. Martin Seligman optimismpositive-thinkingwork-out Once a depressed person becomes active and hopeful, self-esteem always improves. Bolstering self-esteem without changing hopelessness, without changing passivity, accomplishes nothing. Martin Seligman accomplish-nothingself-esteemdepression By activating an expansive, tolerant, and creative mindset, positive feelings maximize the social, intellectual, and physical benefits that will accrue. Martin Seligman psychologycreativefeelings The pleasant life: a life that successfully pursues the positive emotions about the present, past, and future. Martin Seligman pursueemotionpast We're not prisoners of the past. Martin Seligman prisonerpast What are the enabling conditions that make human beings flourish? How do we get from zero to plus five? Martin Seligman plusenablingzero I'm trying to broaden the scope of positive psychology well beyond the smiley face. Happiness is just one-fifth of what human beings choose to do. Martin Seligman psychologyfacestrying I believe that traditional wisdom is incomplete. A composer can have all the talent of Mozart and a passionate desire to succeed, but if he believes he cannot compose music, he will come to nothing. He will not try hard enough. He will give up too soon when the elusive right melody takes too long to materialize. Martin Seligman passionate-desiregiving-upbelieve Finding temporary and specific causes for misfortune is the art of hope: Temporary causes limit helplessness in time, and specific causes limit helplessness to the original situation. Martin Seligman limitshopeart What determines how much time and deliberate practice a child is willing to devote to achievement? Nothing less than her character. Martin Seligman practicecharacterchildren Whether or not we have hope depends on two dimensions of our explanatory style; pervasiveness and permanence. Martin Seligman stylehopetwo The Fundamentalist Religions simply seem to offer more hope for a brighter future than do the more liberal, humanistic ones. Martin Seligman brighter-futurefundamentalist-religionpsychology Some find that very optimistic people have benign illusions about themselves. These people may think they have more control, or more skill, than they actually do. Others have found that optimistic people have a good handle on reality. The jury is still out. Martin Seligman optimisticrealitythinking Pleasure is the least consequential... engagement and meaning are much more important. Martin Seligman engagementpleasureimportant Money, amazingly, is losing its power... Our economy is rapidly changing from a money economy to a satisfaction economy. Martin Seligman economysatisfactionlosing The drive to resist compulsion is more important in wild animals than sex, food, or water... The drive for competence or to resist compulsion is a drive to avoid helplessness. Martin Seligman animalwatersex On the other hand, permanent causes produce helplessness far into the future, and universal causes spread helplessness through all your endeavors. Martin Seligman futurecauseshands Flow occurs in your life when your highest skills are matched to challenges that quite exactly meet them. Martin Seligman flowskillschallenges Ten years ago, when I was on an airplane and I introduced myself to my seatmate, and told them [I was a psychologist], they'd move away from me. ... And now when I tell people what I do, they move toward me. Martin Seligman motivationinspirationmoving If we just wanted positive emotions, our species would have died out a long time ago. Martin Seligman emotionwantedlong
