Quotessence
Home / Authors / Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes

Professor

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsPeopleBusinessFlowPersonsGoalCreativityConsciousnessFeelsHappiness

Famous Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes

“A thoroughly socialized person is one who desires only the rewards that others around him have agreed he should long for - rewards often grafted onto genetically programmed desires.A person who cannot override genetic instructions when necessary is always vulnerable..The solution is to gradually become free of societal rewards and learn how to substitute for them rewards that are under one's own powers.”

ShouldPersonsLongDesireSolutionsRewardsVulnerableSubstitutesInstruction
Author:Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Create image

“Problems are solved only when we devote a great deal of attention to them and in a creative way...to have a good life, it is not enough to remove what is wrong with it. We also need a positive goal, otherwise why keep going? Creativity is one answer to that question - It provides one of the most exciting models for living.”

WayNeedsEnoughProblemGoalAnswersDealsAttentionCreativityCreativeModelsExcitingRemoveKeep GoingGood Life
Author:Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Create image

“Why is it that, despite having achieved previously undreamed-of miracles of progress, we seem more helpless in facing life than our less privileged ancestors were? The answer seems clear: while humankind collectively has increased its material powers a thousandfold, it has not advanced very far in terms of improving the content of experience.”

SeemsTermAnswersClearProgressMaterialsMiracleDespiteAncestorHumankindHelplessPrivilegedImprovingFacing Life
Author:Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Create image

“Flow is the process of achieving happiness through control over one's inner life. The optimal state of inner experience is order in consciousness. This happens when we focus our attention (psychic energy) on realistic goals and when our skills match the challenges we face.”

StatesHappensFacesOrderEnergyProcessGoalChallengesAttentionConsciousnessFocusAchieveSkillsFlowRealisticPsychicsInner LifeOptimalChallenges We FaceRealistic GoalsAchieving Happiness
Author:Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Create image

“It is amazing how little effort most people make to improve control of their attention. If reading a book seems too difficult, instead of sharpening concentration we tend to set it aside and instead turn on the television, which not only requires minimal attention, but in fact tends to diffuse what little it commands with choppy editing, commercial interruptions, and generally inane content.”

PeopleIfsLittlesBookFactsSeemsTurnsReadingDifficultEffortAttentionTelevisionCommandConcentrationEditingTurn-onInterruptionsSharpening
Author:Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Create image

“If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it. Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them.”

IfsInterestNatureInterestingAttentionPsychologyFocusTroublePay Attention
Book:Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
Create image

“..Such practices and beliefs, which interfere with happiness, are neither inevitable nor necessary; they evolved by chance, as a result of random responses to accidental conditions. But once they become part of the norms and habits of a culture, people assume that this is how things must be; they come to believe they have no other options.”

PeopleBelieveCultureBeliefChanceResultsPracticeConditionsHabitAssumingResponseInevitableInterfereNorm
Book:Flow: the psychology of optimal experience
Create image

“To overcome the anxieties and depressions of contemporary life, individuals must become independent of the social environment to the degree that they no longer respond exclusively in terms of its rewards and punishments. To achieve such autonomy, a person has to learn to provide rewards to herself. She has to develop the ability to find enjoyment and purpose regardless of external circumstances.”

PersonsPurposeIndividualSocialTermAbilityEnvironmentAchieveCircumstancesDegreesAnxietyOvercomingIndependentRewardsPunishmentContemporaryEnjoymentAutonomyReward And PunishmentSocial EnvironmentContemporary Life
Book:Flow: the psychology of optimal experience
Create image

“To live means to experience-through doing, feeling, thinking. Experience takes place in time, so time is the ultimate scarce resource we have. Over the years, the content of experience will determine the quality of life. Therefore one of the most essential decisions any of us can make is about how one's time is allocated or invested.”

ThinkingLifeYearsMeanFeelingsDecisionQualityBalanceEssentialsResourcesExperienceUltimateDetermineQuality Of LifeScarceScarce Resources
Book:Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
Create image