The confidence that individuals have in their beliefs depends mostly on the quality of the story they can tell about what they see, even if they see little.

The experiencing self lives in the moment; it is the one that answers the question, 'Does it hurt?' or 'What were you thinking about just now?' The remembering self is the one that answers questions about the overall evaluation of episodes or periods of one's life, such as a stay in the hospital or the years since one left college.

It's a wonderful thing to be optimistic. It keeps you healthy and it keeps you resilient.

We're generally overconfident in our opinions and our impressions and judgments.

Money does not buy you happiness, but lack of money certainly buys you misery.

Facts that challenge basic assumptions-and thereby threaten people's livelihood and self-esteem-are simply not absorbed. The mind does not digest them.

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.