Is happiness really the only thing we should be aiming for? Daniel Gilbert More Quotes by Daniel Gilbert More Quotes From Daniel Gilbert 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 change mistake life 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 unhappy blood moving People are happiest when they're trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach. Daniel Gilbert goal trying people 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 family-and-friends way thinking 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 eye brain believe 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 unhappy winning thinking People want to be happy, and all the other things they want are typically meant to be a means to that end. Daniel Gilbert want mean people 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 ice-cream two thinking Our brain accepts what the eyes see and our eye looks for whatever our brain wants. Daniel Gilbert eye brain looks 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 europe memories believe 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 lawyer done people People are drastically overconfident about their judgments of others. Daniel Gilbert judgment criticism people 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 imagination mistake facts 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 pills would-be running We all have direct experience with things that do or don't make us happy, we all have friends, therapists, cabdrivers, and talk-show hosts who tell us about things that will or won't make us happy, and yet, despite all this practice and all this coaching, our search for happiness often culminates in a stinky mess. We expect the next car, the next house, or the next promotion to make us happy even though the last ones didn't and even though others keep telling us that the next ones won't. Daniel Gilbert car practice happiness If you are like most people, then like most people, you don't know you're like most people. Daniel Gilbert stumbling knows people Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished. Daniel Gilbert progress humans thinking 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 tomorrow self children 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. Daniel Gilbert problem offering should The word happiness is used to indicate at least three related things, which we might roughly call emotional happiness, moral happiness, and judgmental happiness. Daniel Gilbert emotional three happiness
