382 Quotes by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

For a person to become deeply involved in any activity it is essential that he knows precisely what tasks he must accomplish, moment by moment.

In large organizations the dilution of information as it passes up and down the hierarchy, and horizontally across departments, can undermine the effort to focus on common goals.

The ability to take misfortune and make something good come of it is a rare gift. Those who possess it are ..said to have resilience or courage.

To play the trumpet well, a musician can not let more than a few days pass without practicing.

Those periods of struggling to overcome challenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable times.

The germ of an idea doesn't make the sculpture that stands up... so the next stage is hard work

The foremost reason that happiness is so hard to achieve is that the universe was not designed with the comfort of human beings in mind...It seems that every time a pressing danger is avoided a new and more sophisticated threat appears on the horizon...Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great forces of the universe

Many business leaders today view their jobs as entailing responsibility for the welfare of the wider community. These individuals do not define themselves as profit-making machines whose only reason for existing is to satisfy escalating expectation for immediate gain.

Sir John Templeton: "My ethical principle in the first place was: 'Where could I use my talents that God gave me to help the most people?'"