I'm trying to broaden the scope of positive psychology well beyond the smiley face. Happiness is just one-fifth of what human beings choose to do.
Martin SeligmanRead
Perhaps the single most robust fact across many surveys is that married people are happier than anyone else.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Marriage is often associated with greater happiness in life compared to other relationship statuses.
This quote by Martin Seligman emphasizes the widespread finding in various studies that individuals who are married tend to report higher levels of happiness. It suggests that the companionship, support, and commitment that come with marriage contribute positively to overall well-being and life satisfaction, implying that the relational aspect of marriage plays a crucial role in personal happiness.
Themes
MarriageHappinessRelationshipsLoveWell-Being
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a wedding speech to emphasize the joy of marriage.
More from Martin Seligman
All quotes βOne of my worries about America is the epidemic of depression we've been in. One of the possibilities about that is that the 'I' gets bigger and bigger, and the 'we' gets smaller and smaller.
Martin SeligmanRead
The dirty little secret of both clinical psychology and biological psychiatry is that they have completely given up on the notion of cure.
Martin SeligmanRead
The belief that we can rely on shortcuts to happiness, joy, rapture, comfort, and ecstasy, rather than be entitled to these feelings by the exercise of personal strengths and virtues, leads to legions of people who, in the middle of great wealth, are starving spiritually.
Martin SeligmanRead
I believe psychology has done very well in working out how to understand and treat disease. But I think that is literally half-baked. If all you do is work to fix problems, to alleviate suffering, then by definition you are working to get people to zero, to neutral.
Martin SeligmanRead
The good life is using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification.
Martin SeligmanRead
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I really love being alive. I love my family and my work. I love the opportunity I have to do things. That's what happiness is.
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My formula for happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal.
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One of the advantages of being born in an affluent society is that if one has any intelligence at all, one will realize that having more and more won't solve the problem, and happiness does not lie in possessions, or even relationships: The answer lies within ourselves. If we can't find peace and happiness there, it's not going to come from the outside.
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The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.
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But the rest are even scared to open up and laugh. You know, that's the first thing that got me about this place, that there wasn't anybody laughing. I haven't heard a real laugh since I came through that door, do you know that? Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing.
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