Philosophy

People do confuse pleasure for happiness, but as Mortimer J. Adler put it, there is a big difference between a having a good time and having a good life. Pleasure is best understood not as the very good itself, but as a by-product of pursuing the things that really are good.

Professor of Government and Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin

To be completely happy is the same as to be fulfilled, to flourish, or to thrive – to enjoy complete well-being, to have our complete and final good. We seek happiness for its own sake, not to get something else. This is our goal and deepest longing.

Professor of Government and Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin

I feel it's such a wonderful thing to be able to leave the tyranny of gravity to leave the ground and fly wherever you will.

Evolutionary Biologist & Author of "The Selfish Gene

The question to be asked is why doesn't everybody fly?

Evolutionary Biologist & Author of "The Selfish Gene

We are living longer and measuring GDP growth is not the way to decide whether a society or an economy are flourishing.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about demography and one of the biggest misunderstandings is that it's destiny. If it's destiny, it is not that interesting to study, but it's not destiny.

Conditional on the emergence of the human brain, civilisation was inevitable for many reasons. We had a commendable population in Africa 300,000 years ago and given the fact that these individuals were equipped with the power of the modern brain, the emergence of civilisation was inevitable.

Economist known for unified growth theory explaining long-term economic development

Our cognitive capability to reason has not evolved to find truth, it evolved to help us survive and that means that we sometimes find it easier to stay with a group rather than believe the correct thing.

Truth is a quality of reality. It has nothing to do with what I believe. Truth, when it comes to empirical issues, is an objective thing. Whether something is true or not is independent of whether I think it is true or not, and a lot of people confuse this.

Society must demand that you comport yourself within a framework of rules. Once those rules break, society breaks down.

Creator and star of TV show "Judge Judy" for 25 years

When I got better, even simple things like being able to wake-up, go for a walk, speak, and observe life, felt viscerally stunning and good. I found a state of being – a state that gave me perspective and feeling about life and my place in it.

Georgian-British singer-songwriter known for "Nine Million Bicycles

The power of regret is that it clarifies what we value and instructs on how to do better. When people tell you what they regret they most, they are telling you what they value the most.

Author of "Drive" & Leading Work Culture Expert

People who are claiming they have no regrets are essentially saying they have no learning, no growth, and no progress. We need to recalibrate and make sense of this profoundly misunderstood emotion.

Author of "Drive" & Leading Work Culture Expert

No regrets culture is a terrible blueprint for living. The idea that you should always be positive and never look backwards is not an effective blueprint for living a decent, meaningful, happy life. It runs against everything we know about the science of emotion!

Author of "Drive" & Leading Work Culture Expert

We all know – almost intuitively – that we're part of something that requires awe and wonder. It's so amazing we're here, it's bonkers! There is so much inspiration around us – it's awe inspiring.

British Radio & TV Presenter, Model & Wellness Author

We've lost our relationship with ourselves; and that is all-encompassing because without a relationship with ourselves, we can't then have a relationship with nature, with each other and the planet.

British Radio & TV Presenter, Model & Wellness Author