“The word "utopia" has two meanings. It means both "good place" and "nowhere". That's the way it should be. The happiest places, I think, are the ones that reside just this side of paradise. The perfect person would be insufferable to live with; likewise, we wouldn't want to live in the perfect place, either. "A life time of happiness! No man could bear it: It would be hell on earth," wrote George Bernard Shaw, in his play Man and Superman.” ThinkingMenWayWantShouldMeanPersonsTwoPlayWould BeEarthSidesPerfectHellBearsParadiseUtopiaGood PlaceLife TimeHell On EarthInsufferableMan And SupermanPerfect PersonBernard ShawTwo Meaning Author:Eric Weiner
“Normally, we think of the religious as people who care more, not less than the rest of us. This is not true, not exactly. The truly religious care more deeply about fewer things and do't give a hoot about the rest.” PeopleThinkingGivingCareReligiousFewerWho CaresHoot Author:Eric Weiner
“I would love to think there is a direct relationship between coffee and genius, but they've done studies, and if anything, caffeine probably makes you a little less creative.” IfsThinkingLittlesDoneCreativeStudyGeniusDirectCoffeeCaffeine Author:Eric Weiner
“I think we should have more coffeehouses, more cafes, more "third places." More places where people can get together that's not work, not home, and where they can interact with people who are different from them.” PeopleThinkingShouldDifferentHomeTogetherShould HaveThirdsGet TogetherCafesThird Place Author:Eric Weiner
“The creative act always requires a stepping back. It's called the incubation period. The incubation period - one of the four phases of creativity - is when you're not consciously thinking of a problem, and you're letting it marinate. So this is why you hear time and again, people saying they had that "Eureka" moment in the bath, like Archimedes, or in the shower, or while going for a walk or in a coffeehouse.” PeopleThinkingMomentsProblemWalksCreativityCreativeFourPeriodsPhasesShowersBathsIncubationStepping Back Author:Eric Weiner
“Money matters but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude.” ThinkingWayImportantMatterGratitudeEnvyBeachToxicOptionalMoney Matters Author:Eric Weiner
“So the greatest source of happiness is other people- and what does money do? It isolates us from other people. It enables us to build walls, literal and figurative, around ourselves. We move from a teeming college dorm to an apartment to a house, and if we're really wealthy, to an estate. We think we're moving up, but really we're walling off ourselves.” PeopleIfsThinkingDoeMovingHouseCollegeSourceWallWealthyApartmentEstatesLiteralDormsSource Of HappinessMoving Up Book:The Geography of Bliss Source: The Geography of Bliss
“I've spent most of my life trying to think my way to happiness, and my failure to achieve that goal only proves, in my mind, that I am not a good enough thinker. It never occurred to me that the source of my unhappiness is not flawed thinking but thinking itself.” ThinkingWayTryingMindEnoughGoalAchieveSourceProveMy WayUnhappinessGood EnoughThinkerFlawed Author:Eric Weiner
“For me, a place unvisited is like an unrequited love. A dull ache that- try as you might to think it away, to convince yourself that she really wasn't the right country for you- just won't leave you in peace.” ThinkingTryingCountryMightDullConvinceUnrequited LoveAcheUnrequited Author:Eric Weiner
“The late British-born philosopher Alan Watts, in one of his wonderful lectures on eastern philosophy, used this analogy: "If I draw a circle, most people, when asked what I have drawn, will say I have drawn a circle or a disc, or a ball. Very few people will say I've drawn a hole in the wall, because most people think of the inside first, rather than thinking of the outside. But actually these two sides go together--you cannot have what is 'in here' unless you have what is out there.' " In other words, where we are is vital to who we are.” PeopleIfsThinkingFirstsTwoPhilosophyTogetherUsedSidesBornWonderfulWallLateDrawsBallsPhilosopherBritishCirclesHolesWho We AreEasternLecturesTwo SidesAnalogiesDiscsEastern Philosophy Author:Eric Weiner
