I hate to say it, but I had a great time in World War II.
People talk of the new economy and of reinventing themselves in the workplace, and in that sense most of us are less secure.
Spend some effort in figuring out why each decision did or did not pan out. Doing that systematically is key: really try to question the way you make decisions, and improve it.
Happiness is determined by factors like your health, your family relationships and friendships, and above all by feeling that you are in control of how you spend your time.
Clearly, the decision-making that we rely on in society is fallible. It's highly fallible, and we should know that.
After a crisis we tell ourselves we understand why it happened and maintain the illusion that the world is understandable. In fact, we should accept the world is incomprehensible much of the time.
Overconfidence is a powerful source of illusions, primarily determined by the quality and coherence of the story that you can construct, not by its validity.
I wish someone had told me that my stories are really mine to tell. In other words, anything that I think is important or that has moved me has the ability to move somebody else.
Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.
But to die of laughter--this, too, seems to me a great euthanasia.
Only when we try to understand one another's suffering can we begin to bring each other joy.