Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill

Hatred exaggerates the faults of its object and ignores its good qualities.

“Biased perceptions and thinking become set in a mental vise in response to threat, real or imaginary. This rigid frame, the prison of the mind,

“Biased perceptions and thinking become set in a mental vise in response to threat, real or imaginary. This rigid frame, the prison of the mind, is responsible for much of the hate and violence that plague us.”

Hatred is not expressed solely through anger, but the latter erupts the moment circumstances permit.

By giving in to anger, we are not necessarily harming our enemy but we are definitely harming ourselves.

Even if we allow our rage to go all the way, we will never eliminate all our enemies.

hatred always begins with a simple thought.

“The only good thing about evil is that it can be purified.”

what can other people’s happiness possibly deprive us of? Nothing, of course. Only the ego can be wounded by it and feel it as pain.

depressed or their good health when we’re sick. Why not take their joy as a source of inspiration

If a sailor looses the tiller and lets the sails flap in the wind and the boat drift wherever the currents take it, it is not called freedom — it is called drifting.

In daily life this freedom allows us to be open and patient with others while remaining committed to the direction we have chosen to take in life.

the anxiety that some people feel likewise comes from a lack of direction in their lives, from having failed to grasp their own inner potential for change.

Understanding that we are neither perfect nor completely happy is not a weakness. It is a very healthy acknowledgment that has nothing to do with self-pity, pessimism, or a lack of self-confidence.

“What’s the point of worrying about things that no longer exist and things that do not yet exist?”

People who are married or cohabiting are, in general, significantly happier than singles, widows and widowers, or the divorced or separated living alone. As for the children of divided parents, they are twice as likely to experience a variety of social, psychological, or academic problems.

Vacations have a positive effect on well-being, calm, and health.

watching television, as popular as it is, leads to only a minimal increase in well-being.

watching television, as popular as it is, leads to only a minimal increase in well-being. As for those who watch a lot, they are on average less happy.

it appears clearly that beyond a relatively low threshold of wealth, the level of satisfaction remains unchanged even as income continues to rise.