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
I think we pursue positive relationships whether or not they bring us engagement or happiness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that people are drawn to positive relationships regardless of the immediate emotional benefits.
Martin Seligman's quote highlights the intrinsic human desire to seek out and cultivate positive relationships in our lives. Even when these relationships do not directly lead to joy or engagement, the act of pursuing and maintaining them is a fundamental aspect of our social nature and overall well-being.
Themes
RelationshipsPositivityHappinessEngagementSocial
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be perfect for a speech on the importance of community.
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
Similar quotes
Ever since I could form coherent thoughts, I knew I was a girl trapped inside a boy's body. There was never any confusion in my mind. The confusing part was why no one else could see what was wrong.
Jazz JenningsRead
I have two friends named Matt. They're both scouts in the cavalry. They both served in the same section of Iraq. They both worked with the same Iraqi translator. And yet, if you talk to them, their stories couldn't be more different, because one was there in 2006. One was there in 2008.
Phil KlayRead
A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever.
Eckhart TolleRead
I've always been Sarah. My gender identity has always existed. I've always been a woman. Gay people aren't straight before they come out as gay, and transgender people are who they are before they come out and transition.
Sarah McbrideRead
I won't quit to become someone's old lady.
Janis JoplinRead
The compelled mother loves her child as the caged bird sings. The song does not justify the cage nor the love the enforcement.
Germaine GreerRead