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1 " Philosophy is like wine. There are good years and bad years but, in general, the older the better. "
― Eric Weiner , The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley
2 " God is not an exclamation point. He is, at his best, a semicolon, connecting people, and generating what Aldous Huxley called “human grace.” Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of this. "
― Eric Weiner , Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine
3 " [Happiness is] a ghost, it’s a shadow. You can’t really chase it. It’s a by-product, a very pleasant side effect to a life lived well. "
― Eric Weiner , The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
4 " I've always believed that happiness is just around the corner. The trick is fining the right corner. "
5 " ..there is more to life than just pleasure. We want to achieve our happiness and not just experience it. "
6 " Places of genius challenge us. They are difficult. They do not earn their place in history with ethnic restaurants or street festivals, but by provoking us, making demands of us. Crazy, unrealistic, beautiful demands. "
7 " A confused mind is one that is open to the possibility of change. "
8 " All genuinely creative ideas are initially met with rejection, since they necessarily threaten the status quo. An enthusiastic reception for a new idea is a sure sign that it is not original. "
9 " Einstein's secretary once said that if Einstein were born among the polar bears, he would still be Einstein. But unless polar bears were well versed in theoretical physics, that is not true. Einstein would not be Einstein. Which is not to take anything away from Einstein, or the polar bears, but simply to point out that he was part of a creative ecology, and trying to isolate him from it is not only silly but futile. "
10 " Nothing kills creativity faster than a wall. "
11 " Believing in everything looks a lot like believing in nothing. "
12 " Rule number one: wear loose clothing. No Problem. Rule number two: no alcohol for the next three days. Slight problem. I'll miss my evening glass of wine but figure I can go for three days without and compensate later.And the last rule: absolutely no coffee or tea or caffeine of any kind.Big problem. This rule hits me like a sucker punch and sure would have knocked me to the floor had I not been sitting there already. I'm eying the exits, plotting my escape. I knew enlightenment came at a price, but i had no idea the price was this steep. A sense of real panic sets in. How am I going to survive for the next seventy-two hours without a single cup of coffee? "
13 " Perhaps it's true you can't go back in time, but you can return to the scene of a love, of a crime, of happiness, and of a fateful decision; the places are what remain, are what you can possess, are what is immortal. "
14 " Too often when we say we feel joyful, we’re really feeling manic. There is a frenetic nature to our joy, a whiff of panic; we’re afraid the moment might end abruptly. But then there are other moments when our joy is more solidly grounded. I am not speaking of a transcendental moment, of bliss, but something less. "
15 " The act of underlining always contains an element of self-recognition. "
16 " Yes, failure is part of the mix, he says, but it is a means, not an end. If you fail repeatedly, and in the same manner, you're an idiot, not a genius. "
17 " a simple question to identify your true home: where do you want to die? "
18 " what doesn't kill you not only make you stronger, but also more honest. "
19 " Ideas are like bananas. That bananas grow only in tropical regions doesn't make them any less delicious in Scandinavia. "
20 " First of all, nothing good ever came from a beanbag chair. Nothing. I am speaking from personal experience. "
