“My argument is that happiness shouldn't be pursued deliberately. Happiness is more of a by-product, a downstream effect of making sound decisions, and adopting the right mindset. I cite a quote from Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, in his book, 'Man's Search for Meaning'. He posits that success shouldn't be sought deliberately but rather, it's something that materialises when one is engaged in meaningful endeavours. This logic applies perfectly to happiness as well.”— Gad Saad
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
We have come to consider children as either being exploited or subject to charity; we hardly ever consider them as the equal human beings they are, born with certain inalienable rights.
— Kailash SatyarthiNobel Peace Prize Winner & Child Rights Activist Against Child Labor
What failure really means is that you are trying to live life, and the fact that you fail means that you are trying. As soon as you try to avoid failure, you are facing the wrong direction.
— Ed CatmullCo-Founder of Pixar & Pioneer in Computer Graphics
For us, for our people, who were under communist domination, we were comfortable and happy to take on a European identity when we gained independence. Identity is something incredibly personal; and how the individual combines their national and European identity is something they do themselves.
— Toomas Hendrik IlvesFormer President of Estonia & Cybersecurity Pioneer
A child doesn't even question their situation- I was thrown into a situation and had to respond to it; if I needed food, I had to get food… If I needed shelter, I had to find shelter.
— Mario CapecchiNobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice
I never had an ethical dilemma with what was going on as a child, it was about pure survival. The kids that survived were the ones who were clever enough to continually get a meal.
— Mario CapecchiNobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice
If you want to understand the mainsprings of human-action, then understanding the remembering self is more important than the experiencing self.
— Daniel KahnemanNobel Prize Winner in Economics for Behavioral Economics Research
There is a proverb in Hebrew that says that there used to be prophecy, but prophecy is now left for fools. I am not enthusiastic about forecasting anything.
— Daniel KahnemanNobel Prize Winner in Economics for Behavioral Economics Research
Bias means your mind, your experiences, and your knowledge is too narrow to take in and truly appreciate the person standing in front of you.
— May-Britt MoserNeuroscientist; Nobel Prize for discovering brain's positioning system cells
Our culture is one of compensation, it's bullshit. We have so many cars, so many houses and so much sex, we lose track of who we are. We need to get back to the core. Through removing stimulation, we've disconnected ourselves from nature, from our innate capacities, and we have to reawaken ourselves.
— Wim HofExtreme athlete known for ice exposure & breathing technique methods
I'm a school drop-out that is now teaching professors and doctors around the world; all because of a naïve woman's wish for her child to live.
— Wim HofExtreme athlete known for ice exposure & breathing technique methods
We come from mammals, we are mammals… we're just mammals that wear clothes. We're destimulated – we don't feel the cold, the heat, everything in our environment – even though our physiology is built for it. Our vascular system responds naturally to temperature changes by dilating and contracting our muscles; but we've allowed them to lose this fitness, to lose their conditioning – and so our hearts compensate.
— Wim HofExtreme athlete known for ice exposure & breathing technique methods
Going around the world thousands of times presents you with the depth, fragility, strength and richness of Earth; and gives you a sense of what 4.5 billion years actually means. I travelled with our Earth as it crossed the Solar System and watched as Winter and Summer swapped- it was like watching the world take one of 4.5 billion breaths.
— Chris HadfieldCanadian Astronaut & International Space Station Commander
Seeing the Earth from space gives you an unfiltered understanding of it. Until you see the Earth from this vantage point, everything you knew about the planet was based on something that someone else had told you – based on their own filtered understanding and bias.
— Chris HadfieldCanadian Astronaut & International Space Station Commander
Everything we do in one sense or another is consummatory. We consume religious narratives, we consume literature, we consume friendships. Our mate choices are the ultimate form of consumer choice.
— Gad SaadEvolutionary Psychologist & Author Known for Consumer Behavior Research
In postmodernism, there are no absolute truths; everything is relative, of course other than the one absolute truth that there are no absolute truths. This is a form of intellectual terrorism, nihilism.
— Gad SaadEvolutionary Psychologist & Author Known for Consumer Behavior Research
It takes intellectuals to come up with some of the most moronic ideas possible.
— Gad SaadEvolutionary Psychologist & Author Known for Consumer Behavior Research