People

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

"You don't actually experience the world—instead, you filter reality through the state of your nervous system."

"Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experience."

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few."

"If you love someone, the best way to show it is to respect their freedom."

"One of the most important things you can do to change your brain is to change your mind."

"Trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you."

"Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group of people from another."

"The mind is not a blank slate, but an intricate tapestry of biological and cultural influences."

"My ultimate goal is to reduce the number of street dogs in the world by fifty percent."

"Play is the highest form of development in childhood. It alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul."

"The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life."

"Morality is not a subject; it's a perspective from which every subject can be taught."

"The mind is a collection of specialized modules, each designed to solve specific adaptive problems."

"Our brains have been sculpted by evolution to solve the adaptive problems of our ancestors."

"Human emotions are complex adaptations that solve adaptive problems related to survival and reproduction."

"Evolution is not a ladder with humans at the top. It's a branching tree with all species connected and interdependent."

"The goal of neuroscience is to understand the brain well enough to repair it when it breaks."

"The most creative people are those who habitually resist the security of habit and embrace the uncertainty of the new."

"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it's conformity."

"Our perception of reality is not a direct reflection of the world; it is filtered through our biases and expectations."

"Intuition feels just the same when it's wrong and when it's right, that's the problem with intuition."

"Perception is not the passive receipt of sensory information, but an active process of interpreting it."

"Family members who have the least amount of reactivity to others in the family are the most emotionally mature."

"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man."

"I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time."

"The most inspiring achievements of civilization are the ones that expanded the scope of human sympathy."

"Our brain is a complex biological organ that is constantly changing in response to experience."

"We are all controlled by the world in which we live, and part of that world has been and will be constructed by men."

"Mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain."

"Man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life."

"The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done."

"The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination."

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself."

"Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is."

"The richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love, and play."

"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."

"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."

"The past is present until it is resolved."

"Anxiety and depressive affect are not a sign of personal weakness, but a manifestation of the human condition."

"If you want to understand your own life, you have to understand your mother's life."

"One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."