The good news is that going blind is not going to make you as unhappy as you think it will. The bad news is that winning the lottery will not make you as happy as you expect.

People are drastically overconfident about their judgments of others.

We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.

The brain and the eye may have a contractual relationship in which the brain has agreed to believe what the eye sees, but in return the eye has agreed to look for what the brain wants.

People are happiest when they're trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach.

People want to be happy, and all the other things they want are typically meant to be a means to that end.

Our brain accepts what the eyes see and our eye looks for whatever our brain wants.

The secret of happiness is variety, but the secret of variety, like the secret of all spices, is knowing when to use it.

We treat our future selves as though they were our children, spending most of the hours of most of our days constructing tomorrows that we hope will make them happy

Happiness refers to feelings, virtue refers to actions, and those actions can cause those feelings. But not necessarily and not exclusively.

Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished.

Don't be afraid of the dark, it's a place where you can hide.

My mum translated this in her head to "witchfinder, " which was good because like most West Africans, she considered witchfinding a more respectable profession than policeman.

The beauty of women was the first expression of my photography.

If you got a good imagination, a lot of confidence and you kind of know what you are saying, then you might be able to do it. I know a lot of colorful characters at home that would make great actors.

I might have simply settled down into an armchair literary life. I really don't know exactly why I didn't.

Politics is never about the people. It's about money. And wars. And how many heads you can step on and bodies you can step over. And I'm just not that kind of person.

I think you should make a movie that has an audience.

For a homebody like me, the evolution of gadgets has been a blessing.

They who most loudly clamour for liberty do not most liberally grant it.

Thou rising Sun! thou blue rejoicing Sky! Yea! every thing that is and will be free! Bear witness for me, whereso'er ye be, With what deep worship I have still adored The spirit of divinest Liberty.