The Fundamentalist Religions simply seem to offer more hope for a brighter future than do the more liberal, humanistic ones.

When well-being comes from engaging our strengths and virtues, our lives are imbued with authenticity.

There are physical characteristics which are inherited. These include things like good looks, high intelligence, physical coordination. These attributes contribute to success in life, and success in life is a determinant of optimism.

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.

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

When we take time to notice the things that go right - it means we're getting a lot of little rewards throughout the day.

Doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we have tested.