Changing the destructive things you say to yourself when you experience the setbacks that life deals all of us is the central skill of optimism.

The clearer the rules and the limits enforced by parents, the higher the child's self-esteem. The more freedom the child had, the lower his self-esteem.

If we just wanted positive emotions, our species would have died out a long time ago.

In a society in which individualism is becoming rampant, people more and more believe that they are the center of the world. Such a belief system makes individual failure almost inconsolable.

I believe that traditional wisdom is incomplete. A composer can have all the talent of Mozart and a passionate desire to succeed, but if he believes he cannot compose music, he will come to nothing. He will not try hard enough. He will give up too soon when the elusive right melody takes too long to materialize.

The good life is using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification.

Optimism is a tool with a certain clear set of benefits: it fights depression, it promotes achievement and produces better health.