One of the things that surprised me the most is how often we assume that because something's fun for someone else, it makes somebody else happy, it will make us happy.

What I found is, really, you always have to begin by nailing what is true about you, because something that works very well for someone else might not work for you at all.

The 20-minute walk I take is better than the 3-mile run I never start. Having people over for take-out is better than never having people to an elegant dinner party.

People are powerfully moved by imagination, belief, and knowledge. They can consider the past and future. They can make changes in their behavior out of reason, in a way that animals can’t do.

The most reliable predictor of not being lonely is the amount of contact with women. Time spent with men doesn't make a difference.

I can DO ANYTHING I want, but I can't DO EVERYTHING I want.

A book is a better way to develop a complicated idea, or to tell a big story and to show how ideas weave in and out of each other, which is something that comes up a lot in happiness because all these ideas are interconnected.