When people evaluate their life, they compare themselves to a standard of what a successful life is, and it turns out that standard tends to be universal: People in Togo and Denmark have the same idea of what a good life is, and a lot of that has to do with money and material prosperity. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
If you’re going to be unreligious, it’s likely going to be due to reflecting on it and finding some things that are hard to believe. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
I think one of the major results of the psychology of decision making is that people’s attitudes and feelings about losses and gains are really not symmetric. So we really feel more pain when we lose $10,000 than we feel pleasure when we get $10,000. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
In a rising market, enough of your bad ideas will pay off so that you’ll never learn that you should have fewer ideas. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
Optimistic people play a disproportionate role in shaping our lives. Their decisions make a difference; they are inventors, entrepreneurs, political and military leaders – not average people. They got to where they are by seeking challenges and taking risks. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
The experiencing self lives in the moment; it is the one that answers the question, ‘Does it hurt?’ or ‘What were you thinking about just now?’ The remembering self is the one that answers questions about the overall evaluation of episodes or periods of one’s life, such as a stay in the hospital or the years since one left college. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
Policy makers, like most people, normally feel that they already know all the psychology and all the sociology they are likely to need for their decisions. I don’t think they are right, but that’s the way it is. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
You’re surprised by something, but you don’t really know what surprised you; you recognize someone, but you don’t really know what cues cause you to recognize that person. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
It’s clear that policymakers and economists are going to be interested in the measurement of well-being primarily as it correlates with health; they also want to know whether researchers can validate subjective responses with physiological indices. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
I used to hold a unitary view, in which I proposed that only experienced happiness matters, and that life satisfaction is a fallible estimate of true happiness. Daniel Kahneman Read Quote
