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
What humans want is not just happiness. They want justice; they want meaning.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humans seek more than just happiness; they desire justice and a sense of purpose.
This quote by Martin Seligman emphasizes the idea that true fulfillment for humans goes beyond mere happiness. While joy is an important aspect of life, it is often the pursuit of justice and finding meaning that brings a deeper sense of satisfaction and purpose to our existence.
Themes
HappinessJusticeMeaningPurposeFulfillment
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of human desires at a psychology conference.
More from Martin Seligman
All quotes →One 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.
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The dirty little secret of both clinical psychology and biological psychiatry is that they have completely given up on the notion of cure.
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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
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