Everyone who has observed human behavior for more than thirty continuous seconds seems to have noticed that people are strongly, perhaps even primarily, perhaps even single-mindedly, motivated to feel happy.
Daniel GilbertRead
What Western society teaches us is that if you get enough money, power, and beautiful people to have sex with, that's going to bring you happiness. That's what every commercial, every magazine, music, movie teaches us. That's a fallacy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True happiness cannot be bought or derived solely from material wealth or superficial relationships.
In this quote, Adam Yauch critiques the common Western belief that happiness is achieved through the accumulation of wealth, power, and physical attractiveness. He argues that this notion, perpetuated by media and society, is misleading and ultimately a fallacy, suggesting that real happiness comes from deeper, more fulfilling sources beyond mere materialism and superficial connections.
Themes
HappinessWealthFallacySocietySuperficialMedia
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion on the influence of media on our perceptions of happiness.
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