Negotiations over a shrinking pie are especially difficult because they require an allocation of losses. People tend to be much more easygoing when they bargain over an expanding pie.

If you're going to be unreligious, it's likely going to be due to reflecting on it and finding some things that are hard to believe.

When people think of the outcomes of their decisions, they think much more short term than that. They think in terms of gains and losses.

We know that the French are very different from the Americans in their satisfaction with life. They're much less satisfied. Americans are pretty high up there, while the French are quite low - the world champions in life satisfaction are actually the Danes.

A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.

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

If there is time to reflect, slowing down is likely to be a good idea.