Explore Quotes on Inspiration

It stands to reason that we love chocolate cake because it is sweet. Guys go for girls like this because they are sexy. We adore babies because they're so cute. And, of course, we are amused by jokes because they are funny. This is all backwards. It is. And Darwin shows us why.

Most of us will get turned on at night by the very same things that we will demonstrate against during the day - the erotic mind is not very politically correct.

If we see someone in a wheelchair, we assume they cannot walk. It may be that they can walk three, four, five steps. That, to them, means they can walk.

If it would destroy [a 12-year-old boy] to be called a girl, what are we then teaching him about girls?

That's what life is about: about daring greatly, about being in the arena.

[The Barefoot College is] the only college where the teacher is the learner and the learner is the teacher.

Could I do with a little life editing? Would that give me a little more freedom? Maybe a little more time?

I started out with a dream to make a star in a jar, and I ended up ... making things that I think can change the world.

When you smile you don't only appear to be more likable and courteous, you appear to be more competent.

It is okay to be an outsider, a recent arrival, new on the scene - and not just okay, but something to be thankful for. ... Because being an insider can so easily mean collapsing the horizons, can so easily mean accepting the presumptions of your province.

It is a dream of mankind to fly like a bird.

Ten years ago, when I was on an airplane and I introduced myself to my seatmate, and told them [I was a psychologist], they'd move away from me. ... And now when I tell people what I do, they move toward me.

You cannot talk about race without talking about privilege. And when people start talking about privilege, they get paralyzed by shame.

I regretted the time I wasted on things that did not matter with people that [do] matter.

We have a visceral reaction to the idea that anyone would make very much money helping other people. Interesting that we don't have a visceral reaction to the notion that people would make a lot of money NOT helping other people.

We are living on average today 34 years longer than our great-grandparents did.

[Domestic violence is] a carefully laid physical, financial and psychological trap.

Below an income of ... $60,000 a year, people are unhappy, and they get progressively unhappier the poorer they get. Above that, we get an absolutely flat line. ... Money does not buy you experiential happiness, but lack of money certainly buys you misery.

The two most powerful words when we're in struggle: me too.

Women, we care a great deal about being thin and good looking, whereas men mostly care about sex - ideally with women who are thinner and better looking than they are.

When we numb [hard feelings], we numb joy, we numb gratitude, we numb happiness.