Jacob Lindberg > Jacob's Quotes

“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Stories

“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, Stumbling on Happiness

“The fact that we often judge the pleasure of an experience by its ending can cause us to make some curious choices.”
― Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

“If you are like most people, then like most people, you don't know you're like most people.”
― Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

“Research suggests that people are typically unaware of the reasons why they are doing what they are doing, but when asked for a reason, they readily supply one.”
― Daniel Gilbert

“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

“In short, we derive support for our preferred conclusions by listening to the words that we put in the mouths of people who have already been preselected for their willingness to say what we want to hear.”
― Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

“It is indisputable that the being whose capacities of enjoyment are low, has the greatest chance of having them fully satisfied; and a highly endowed being will always feel that any happiness which he can look for, as the world is constituted, is imperfect. But he can learn to bear its imperfections, if they are at all bearable; and they will not make him envy the being who is indeed unconscious of the imperfections, but only because he feels not at all the good which those imperfections qualify.

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.”
― John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism

“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.”
― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

“I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.”
― John Stuart Mill

“If you want to love what you do, abandon the passion mindset (“what can the world offer me?”) and instead adopt the craftsman mindset (“what can I offer the world?”).”
― Cal Newport, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

“Do some good in the world for no other reason than wanting to be part of the solution.”
― Cal Newport, How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country's Top Students

“Consider this scenario.

You own shares in Company A. During the past year you considered switching to stock in Company B but decided against it. You now find that you would have been better off by 1200$ if you had switched to the stock of Company B. You also owned shares in Company C. During the past year you switched to stock in Company D. You now find out that you'd have been better off by 1200$, if you kept your stock in Company C.

Which error causes you more regret? Studies show that about
Immune to Reality nine out of ten people expect to feel more regret when they foolishly switch stocks than when they foolishly fail to switch stocks, because most people think they will regret foolish actions more than foolish inactions. But studies also show that nine out of ten people are wrong.

Indeed, in the long run, people of every age and in every walk of life seem to regret "not" having
done things much more than they regret things they "did", which is why the most popular regrets include not going to college, not grasping profitable business opportunities, and not spending enough time with family and friends.”
― Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

“I went out with a guy who once told me I didn’t need to drink to make myself more fun to be around. I told him, I’m drinking so that you’re more fun to be around.”
― Chelsea Handler, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

“In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people's home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm!”
― Woody Allen

“That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.”
― Charles Bukowski, Women

“I like to change liquor stores frequently because the clerks got to know your habits if you went in night and day and bought huge quantities. I could feel them wondering why I wasn't dead yet and it made me uncomfortable. They probably weren't thinking any such thing, but then a man gets paranoid when he has 300 hangovers a year.”
― Charles Bukowski, Women

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld

“It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.”
― Francois De La Rochefoucauld

“We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld

“Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.”
― François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

“We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that in the end, we become disguised to ourselves.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld

“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change -”
― Heraclitus

“We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.”
― Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld

“The height of cleverness is to be able to conceal it.”
― Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“We would often be ashamed of our best actions if the world only knew the motives behind them.”
― Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims

“A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld

“If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself. ”
― Martin Heidegger