There is a huge wave of interest in happiness among researchers. There is a lot of happiness coaching. Everybody would like to make people happier.

... sometimes when you are asked a question that is difficult, the mind doesn't stay silent if it doesn't have the answer. The mind produces something, and what it produces very characteristically is the answer to an easier but related question.

We deeply want to be led by people who know what they're doing and who don't have to think about it too much.

You should expect little or nothing from Wall Street stock pickers who hope to be more accurate than the market in predicting the future of prices. And you should not expect much from pundits making long-term forecasts.

The extra daily social time of 1.7 hours in weekends raises average happiness by about 2%.

Clearly, the decision-making that we rely on in society is fallible. It's highly fallible, and we should know that.

Alternative descriptions of the same reality evoke different emotions and different associations.