We can't live in a state of perpetual doubt, so we make up the best story possible and we live as if the story were true.
Interpretation
We create narratives to give our lives meaning and direction in the face of uncertainty.
This quote reflects on the human tendency to construct narratives or beliefs to navigate through life's uncertainties. Daniel Kahneman suggests that living in continuous doubt is untenable, prompting us to create the most favorable story we can imagine and commit to it, as if it were an undeniable truth. This is an essential aspect of how we find purpose and operate in our daily lives, shaping our perceptions and decisions.
In practice
In a speech about overcoming challenges, you might say, 'As Daniel Kahneman wisely noted, we can't live in a state of perpetual doubt; we must craft our own narratives.'
We think, each of us, that we're much more rational than we are. And we think that we make our decisions because we have good reasons to make them. Even when it's the other way around. We believe in the reasons, because we've already made the decision.
The average investor's return is significantly lower than market indices due primarily to market timing.
Banks are run by executives, and executives protect themselves, and that does not always mean that banks are going to behave rationally.
Laziness is built deep into our nature.
Through some combination of culture and biology, our minds are intuitively receptive to religion.
You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.
What passes for political realism may make for lively academic debates. But it often functions, ironically, as a tool of social control, rendering us passive with an analysis that overwhelms and paralyzes us.
The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred
The world is all alike. Those that seem better than their neighbours are only more artful. They mean the same thing, though they take a different road.
Deception is a developed art of civilization and the most potent weapon in the game of power
Is it not arrogance or narrow-mindedness to claim that there is only one way of salvation or that the way we follow is the right way? I think not. After all, do we fault a pilot for being narrow-minded when he follows the instrument panel while landing in a rainstorm? No, we want him to remain narrowly focused!
Lord free me of myself, so I can please you!
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