Ellen Langer Quotes

• Certainty is a cruel mindset. It hardens our minds against possibility.

  Ellen Langer

  Wise, Growth, Mind

  Ellen J. Langer (2009). “Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility”, p.24, Ballantine Books

  40 Copy quote

• There is always a step small enough from where we are to get us to where we want to be. If we take that small step, there's always another we can take, and eventually a goal thought to be too far to reach becomes achievable.

  Ellen Langer

  Encouragement, Goal, Growth

  Ellen J. Langer (2009). “Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility”, p.35, Ballantine Books

  45 Copy quote

• Life consists only of moments, nothing more than that. So if you make the moment matter, it all matters

  Ellen Langer

  Matter, Moments, Ifs

  Harvard Business Review, Daniel Goleman, Ellen Langer, Susan David, Christina Congleton (2017). “Mindfulness (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)”, p.19, Harvard Business Press

  43 Copy quote

• Stress is a function not of events, but of our view of those events.

  Ellen Langer

  Stress, Views, Events

  53 Copy quote

• What we have learned to look for in a situation determines mostly what we see.

  Ellen Langer

  Wise, Ironic, Looks

  Ellen J. Langer (2009). “Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility”, p.33, Ballantine Books

  35 Copy quote

• Wherever you put the mind, the body will follow.

  Ellen Langer

  Wise, Mind, Body

  "Aniston in Mindfulness Movie". bigthink.com.

  22 Copy quote

• The rules you were given were the rules that worked for the person who created them.

  Ellen Langer

  Given, Persons

  Harvard Business Review, Daniel Goleman, Ellen Langer, Susan David, Christina Congleton (2017). “Mindfulness (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)”, p.9, Harvard Business Press

  26 Copy quote

• People are at their most mindful when they are at play. If we find ways of enjoying our work blurring the lines between work and play the gains will be greater.

  Ellen Langer

  Humor, Play, People

  31 Copy quote

• When people are not in the moment, they're not there to know that they're not there.

  Ellen Langer

  People, Moments, Knows

  30 Copy quote

• Virtually all of life's ills boil down to mindlessness. If you can understand someone else's perspective, then there's no reason to be angry at them, envy them, steal from them.

  Ellen Langer

  Wise, Envy, Perspective

  26 Copy quote

• To be mindfully engaged is the most natural, creative state we can be in.

  Ellen Langer

  Creativity, Creative, Natural

  19 Copy quote

• Not only do we as individuals get locked into single-minded views, but we also reinforce these views for each other until the culture itself suffers the same mindlessness.

  Ellen Langer

  Learning, Knowledge, Views

  30 Copy quote

• Mindfulness is the cure for everything; the essence of being alive.

  Ellen Langer

  Healing, Essence, Mindfulness

  16 Copy quote

• We should open ourselves to the impossible and embrace a psychology of possibility.

  Ellen Langer

  Encouragement, Psychology, Growth

  Ellen J. Langer (2009). “Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility”, p.15, Ballantine Books

  21 Copy quote

• Out of an intuitive experience of the world comes a continuous flow of novel distinctions. Purely rational understanding, on the other hand, serves to confirm old mindsets, rigid categories. Artists, who live in the same world as the rest of us, steer clear of these mindsets to make us see things anew.

  Ellen Langer

  Thinking, Artist, Hands

  Ellen J. Langer (1989). “Mindfulness”, Da Capo Press

  23 Copy quote

• Knowing what is and knowing what can be are not the same thing.

  Ellen Langer

  Knowing, Growth, Ironic

  Ellen Langer (2010). “Counterclockwise: A Proven Way to Think Yourself Younger and Healthier”, p.13, Hachette UK

  12 Copy quote

• Once you've seen there is another perspective, you can never not see that there's another point of view.

  Ellen Langer

  Views, Perspective, Point Of View

  19 Copy quote

• In the perspective of every person lies a lens through which we may better understand ourselves.

  Ellen Langer

  Lying, Learning, Knowledge

  Ellen J. Langer (2007). “On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity”, p.131, Ballantine Books

  15 Copy quote

• If we respect students abilities to define their own experiences, to generate their own hypotheses, and to discover new ways of categorizing the world, we might not be so quick to evaluate the adequacy of their answers. We might, instead, begin listening to their questions. Out of the questions of students come some of the most creative ideas and discoveries.

  Ellen Langer

  Discovery, Ideas, Creative

  10 Copy quote

• Out of the questions of students come most of the creative ideas and discoveries.

  Ellen Langer

  Teaching, Learning, Thinking

  12 Copy quote

• All it takes to become an Artist is to start doing Art. By living a life full of Art, we may achieve an Artful life.

  Ellen Langer

  Art, Artist, May

  6 Copy quote

• No worry before its time.

  Ellen Langer

  Worry, Time Management, Management

  Ellen J. Langer (2009). “Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility”, p.182, Ballantine Books

  11 Copy quote

• My ideas sometimes get the better of me. Before I clearly explain one, another comes to mind and seizes my attention.

  Ellen Langer

  Ideas, Mind, Attention

  Ellen J. Langer (1989). “Mindfulness”, Da Capo Press

  9 Copy quote

• Certainty is a cruel mindset.

  Ellen Langer

  Ironic, Mindset, Certainty

  Ellen J. Langer (2009). “Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility”, p.24, Ballantine Books

  5 Copy quote

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