People want to be happy, and all the other things they want are typically meant to be a means to that end.

Alas, we think of ourselves as unique entities-minds unlike any others-and thus we often reject the lessons that the emotional experience of others has to teach us.

I actually think the same things do make most people happy. The differences are extremely small, and around the margins. You like peach ice cream; I like strawberry ice cream. Both of us like ice cream much better than a smack on the head with two-by-four.

People want to be happy, and all the other things they want are typically meant to be a means to that end.

Variety improves the things that we do too often, but it rules the things that we don't do often enough.

People are happiest when they're trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach.

Our inability to recall how we really felt is why our wealth of experiences turns out to be poverty of riches.