Alison Gopnik Quotes
Samuel Johnson called it the vanity of human wishes, and Buddhists talk about the endless cycle of desire. Social psychologists say we get trapped on a hedonic treadmill. What they all mean is that we wish, plan and work for things that we think will make us happy, but when we finally get them, we aren't nearly as happy as we thought we'd be.
Quotes to Explore
-
I think you grow up every year, every day. You learn something new and try to really worry about what's important in life.
-
Clinton has more important things to worry about. He not only risks being destroyed historically, like Afghanistan's Buddha statues; he also could end up going to jail.
-
I remember the moon landings, and Apollo was the paradigm by which all progress was measured at that time. And I knew that creating a true space-faring civilization was both possible and practical. What I failed to realize was that the effort would fail due to bureaucratic inertia and political apathy.
-
Not all ideas will be accepted, but every idea deserves its own space, and every idea deserves to be expressed.
-
Sydney's beautiful, the weather's great, and the air's fresh and clean, but it doesn't have the scene and the amount of likeminded people. At home, things are very comfortable, but I feel like putting myself out there a bit.
-
I don't pretend to be anything but an actor and a writer.
-
Women are not all single-issue voters.
-
When I first got Yves Saint Laurent Couture, I didn't know how to take off a cape. I would ask Katoucha and Dalma - the real divas of the runway - 'Can you show me?' I've never been afraid to ask for help.
-
I never wanted to be a millionaire. I just wanted to live like one.
-
Just as Wall Street needs to break the hold of the bonus culture, which drives risk-taking that is rational for individuals but damaging to the financial system, so science must break the tyranny of the luxury journals. The result will be better research that better serves science and society.
-
I am also one of those persons who were transformed, who grew out of the Soviet system and transformed myself into the new Russia.
-
I've never been in a relationship before. I've only been in unrequited relationships where people haven't loved me back. I guess I'm a little bit attracted to that in a bad way.
-
I'm into menswear slacks that are comfortable.
-
I don't think it is so difficult to solve the problems between Cuba and the United States; it all depends on whether there is a dialogue, a discussion, or if the prejudices and hatred of people like the extremists and terrorists from the Cuban community, who try to impose their policies, prevail.
-
People are realizing that color has no bearing on what's known as brotherhood.
-
I can change a light fixture, and I can do certain things. But I'm really bad in terms of construction. I can't do any of it on my own.
-
But what I'm very interested in, whether it's writing, whether it's hosting a show, whether it's cooking food, I'm just into the discussions of identity, culture and the politics of culture.
-
I love architecture almost as much as I love my musicals.
-
When you're picking a basketball team, you'll take the brother over the guy with the yarmulke. Why? Because you're playing the odds.
-
The Purdue education was fine, but I wasn't ready to learn when I was at Purdue.
-
I'm so appreciative that people have begun to recognize my work in a way where it can afford me more opportunities.
-
The world of Debussy is a seductive oasis, and it is hard to leave it after spending many days immersed in its atmosphere. Playing Debussy-or any other composer with a strong and idiosyncratic personality-affects not only one's cast of mind but the physical disposition as well, the way the muscles work and the fingers come into contact with the ivories.
-
I never knew a writer yet who took the smallest pains with his style and was at the same time readable.
-
Samuel Johnson called it the vanity of human wishes, and Buddhists talk about the endless cycle of desire. Social psychologists say we get trapped on a hedonic treadmill. What they all mean is that we wish, plan and work for things that we think will make us happy, but when we finally get them, we aren't nearly as happy as we thought we'd be.
