Religious creeds encourage some of the craziest kinds of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and favor severe manifestations of neurosis, borderline personality states, and sometimes even psychosis.

Life is indeed difficult, partly because of the real difficulties we must overcome in order to survive, and partly because of our own innate desire to always do better, to overcome new challenges, to self-actualize. Happiness is experienced largely in striving towards a goal, not in having attained things, because our nature is always to want to go on to the next endeavor.

You never truly need what you want. That is the main and thoroughgoing key to serenity.

Convince yourself that worrying about many situations will make them worse rather than improve them.

I think the future of psychotherapy and psychology is in the school system. We need to teach every child how to rarely seriously disturb himself or herself and how to overcome disturbance when it occurs.

The attitude of unconditional self-acceptance is probably the most important variable in their long-term recovery.

Even when people act nastily to you, don't condemn them or retaliate.