Martin Seligman Quotes

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Martin Seligman

Profession : Psychologist

Birth : August 12, 1942

What humans want is not just happiness. They want justice; they want meaning.

Martin Seligman

The word 'happiness' always bothered me, partly because it was scientifically unwieldy and meant a lot of different things to different people, and also because it's subjective.

Martin Seligman

In human history, we are going from knowledge to omniscience, from potence to omnipotence, from ethics and religion to righteousness. So, in my view, God comes at the end of this long process. This may not happen in our lifetimes or even in the lifetime of our species.

Martin Seligman

Positive psychology is not remotely intended to replace therapy or pharmacology. So when depressed, anxious or in panic or post-traumatic stress disorder, I am all for therapies that will work. Positive psychology is another arrow in the quiver of public policy and psychology through which we can raise wellbeing above zero.

Martin Seligman

Rather than giving people an inflated view of themselves, we need to give them concrete reasons to feel good about themselves.

Martin Seligman

If the point of the inner-child movement is to cure adult problems, it doesn't work. Reliving childhood traumas gives you a nice afterglow, but it lasts only for hours or days. There is no evidence it changes adult problems.

Martin Seligman

Optimistic people generally feel that good things will last a long time and will have a beneficial effect on everything they do. And they think that bad things are isolated: They won't last too long and won't affect other parts of life.

Martin Seligman

The best therapists can do with sadness, anger, and anxiety is to help patients live in the more comfortable part of their set range.

Martin Seligman

It's my belief that, since the end of the Second World War, psychology has moved too far away from its original roots, which were to make the lives of all people more fulfilling and productive, and too much toward the important, but not all-important, area of curing mental illness.

Martin Seligman

Creativity is bound up in our ability to find new ways around old problems.

Martin Seligman

I think we pursue positive relationships whether or not they bring us engagement or happiness.

Martin Seligman

One of my signature strengths is the love of learning, and by teaching, I have built it into the fabric of my life. I try to do some of it every day.

Martin Seligman

The goal of a life free of dysphoria is a snare and a delusion. A better goal is of good commerce with the world. Authentic happiness, astonishingly, can occur even in the presence of authentic sadness.

Martin Seligman

The dirty little secret of both clinical psychology and biological psychiatry is that they have completely given up on the notion of cure.

Martin Seligman

I've been bothered about time generally and our tripartite division of time into past, present, and future. I think I know what the past is, and I think I know what future is, but I'm really not comfortable with the notion of present.

Martin Seligman

Life satisfaction essentially measures cheerful moods, so it is not entitled to a central place in any theory that aims to be more than a happiology.

Martin Seligman

I believe it is within our capacity that by the year 2051 that 51 percent of the human population will be flourishing. That is my charge.

Martin Seligman

We have children to pursue other elements of well-being. We want meaning in life. We want relationships.

Martin Seligman

You can have meaning, accomplishment, engagement and good relationships, even if you are dull on the positive affect side.

Martin Seligman

There are physical characteristics which are inherited. These include things like good looks, high intelligence, physical coordination. These attributes contribute to success in life, and success in life is a determinant of optimism.

Martin Seligman