Daniel Gilbert Quotes - Page 3

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• We don't believe other people's experiences can tell us all that much about our own. I think this is an illusion of uniqueness.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Believe, Thinking, People

  "The truth about happiness may surprise you" by David Martin, edition.cnn.com. November 20, 2006.

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• Everyone who has observed human behavior for more than thirty continuous seconds seems to have noticed that people are strongly, perhaps even primarily, perhaps even single-mindedly, motivated to feel happy.

  Daniel Gilbert

  People, Behavior, Motivated

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.33, Vintage

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• No one likes to be criticized, of course, but if the things we successfully strive for do not make our future selves happy, or if the things we unsuccessfully avoid do, then it seems reasonable (if somewhat ungracious) for them to cast a disparaging glance backward and wonder what the hell we were thinking.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Thinking, Self, Likes

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.14, Vintage

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• Why isn’t it fun to watch a videotape of last night’s football game even when we don’t know who won? Because the fact that the game has already been played precludes the possibility that our cheering will somehow penetrate the television, travel through the cable system, find its way to the stadium, and influence the trajectory of the ball as it hurtles toward the goalposts!

  Daniel Gilbert

  Football, Cheer, Fun

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.22, Vintage

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• Because your brain uses information from the areas around the blind spot to make a reasonable guess about what the blind spot would see if only it weren't blind, and then your brain fills in the scene with this information. That's right, it invents things, creates things, makes stuff up! It doesn't consult you about this, doesn't seek your approval. It just makes its best guess about the nature of the missing information and proceeds to fill in the scene.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Blind Spots, Missing, Brain

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• In short, if we adhere to the standard of perfection in all our endeavors, we are left with nothing but mathematics and the White Album.

  Daniel Gilbert

  White, Perfection, Albums

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.65, Vintage

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• Happiness refers to feelings, virtue refers to actions, and those actions can cause those feelings. But not necessarily and not exclusively.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Happiness, Feelings, Causes

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.37, Vintage

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• Most of us appear to believe that we are more athletic, intelligent, organized, ethical, logical, interesting, open-minded, and healthy-not to mention more attractive-than the average person.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Believe, Intelligent, Average

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• Arthritic toothless people who love orgasms are more likely to reproduce than are limber, toothy people who do not.

  Daniel Gilbert

  People, Toothless

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• Psychologists call this habituation, economists call it declining marginal utility, and the rest of us call it marriage.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Psychologist, Economist, Utility

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, Vintage

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• The mistakes we make when we try to imagine our personal futures are also lawful, regular, and systematic. They, too, have a pattern that tells us about the powers and limits of foresight in much the same way that optical illusions tell us about the powers and limits of eyesight.

  Daniel Gilbert

  Mistake, Trying, Patterns

  Daniel Gilbert (2006). “Stumbling on Happiness”, p.16, Vintage

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