382 Quotes by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Creative people are constantly surprised. They don’t assume that they understand what is happening around them, and they don’t assume that anybody else does either. They question the obvious—not out of contrariness but because they see the shortcomings of accepted explanations before the rest of us do. They sense problems before they are generally perceived and are able to define what they are.

The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times. The best moments usually occur if a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.

Yet, the elders said, at times the world became too predictable and the challenge began to go out of life. Without challenge, life had no meaning.

Chance and necessity are sole rulers of beings who are incapable of reflection.

But shortcuts are dangerous; we cannot delude ourselves that our knowledge is further along than it actually is.

In making us work for its goals, society is assisted by some powerful allies: our biological needs and our genetic conditioning.

While happiness itself is sought for its own sake, every other goal - health, beauty, money or power - is valued only because we expect that it will make us happy.

Whenever information disrupts consciousness by threatening its goals we have a condition of inner disorder, or psychic entropy, a disorganisation of the self that impairs its effectiveness. Prolonged experiences of this kind can weaken the self to the point that it is no longer able to invest attention and pursue its goals.

Every piece of information we process gets evaluated for its bearing on the self. Does it threaten our goals, does it support them, or is it neutral?