The great conservative insight is that order is really hard to achieve. It’s really precious, and it’s really easy to lose. Jonathan Haidt More Quotes by Jonathan Haidt More Quotes From Jonathan Haidt The rider evolved to serve to the elephant. Jonathan Haidt riders elephants Morality binds and blinds. Jonathan Haidt morality religion It's a basic fact about being human that sometimes the self seems to just melt away. Jonathan Haidt soul self god Happiness can only be found within, by breaking attachments to external things and cultivating an attitude of acceptance. Jonathan Haidt acceptance attitude happiness And it’s not just that ‘we all need somebody to lean on’; recent work on giving support shows that caring for others is often more beneficial than is receiving help. . . . We need the give and the take, we need to belong. An ideology of extreme personal freedom can be dangerous because it encourages people to leave homes, jobs, cities and marriages in search of personal and professional fulfillment, thereby breaking the relationships that were probably their best hope for such fulfillment. Jonathan Haidt caring home jobs I think Republicans need to take income inequality more seriously. Not because I favor equality of outcomes. I do not. I think the Right is correct to stress merit and earned rewards, not handouts and forced equality. But I think what Republicans are blind to is that power corrupts. Jonathan Haidt income stress thinking Even if you have a brain predisposed to liberalism, you might end up with some conservative friends or find inspiring conservative role models who could be very influential on you, and that could send you down a different track in life. Jonathan Haidt role-models track brain If you have high IQ, you're really good at finding post-hoc arguments to support your feelings of truthiness. Jonathan Haidt argument support feelings I got interested in the American culture war back in 2004, and it's one of the only growth stocks I've ever invested in. Jonathan Haidt growth war culture I did say that in-group, authority and purity are necessary for the maintenance of order, but I would never give them a blanket endorsement. Jonathan Haidt groups giving order Most of our social nature is like that of other primates - we're mostly out for ourselves. Jonathan Haidt primates social Economic issues are just as much moral issues as social issues. Jonathan Haidt economic issues moral People are voting for the kind of country they want to live in, and there are different views about what kind of country we should have. Jonathan Haidt should-have views country Congress is full of good, decent, smart people who have devoted their lives to public service. Jonathan Haidt public-service smart people Anytime we're interacting with someone, we're judging them, we're sharing expectations, we think they didn't live up to those expectations. Jonathan Haidt judging expectations thinking Liberals are my friends, my colleagues, my social world. Jonathan Haidt colleagues social world By temperament and disposition and emotions, I'm a liberal; but in my beliefs about what's best for the country, I'm a centrist. Jonathan Haidt emotion belief country Conservatives tend to see the world more in terms of good-versus-evil and, for some of them, the nightmare is a disarmed citizenry that can be preyed upon by criminals. They know that having a gun in the house would increase the risk of an accident for a member of their family, but they're willing to take that risk. Jonathan Haidt gun evil house Liberals tend to be much more concerned about business and corporations as the oppressors. They look to government as the solution. On the Right it's the opposite. They see business as good, as what generates wealth in society, and they see government as the oppressor, which makes it hard for especially small businesspeople. Jonathan Haidt corporations government opposites If you have a personality predisposed to liberalism, you might gravitate more to the artsy crowd or the anti-establishment crowd. And then those peers will affect you, and they will give you values, and you will copy them. Jonathan Haidt crowds personality giving
