Jonathan Haidt Quotes

Scandal is great entertainment because it allows people to feel contempt, a moral emotion that gives feelings of moral superiority while asking nothing in return. With contempt you don't need to right the wrong (as with anger) or flee the scene (as with fear or disgust). And the best of all, contempt is made to share. Stories about the moral failings of others are among the most common kinds of gossip, they are a stable of talk radio, and they offer a ready way for people to show that they share a common moral orientation.

In the case of scandal, as in that of robbery, the receiver is always thought as bad as the thief.

People are never more sincere than when they assume their own moral superiority.

Tabloid news is tabloid news.

Gossip is more popular than literature.

You know the difference between news and gossip, don't you? News tells you what people did. Gossip tells you how much they enjoyed it.

I do not look on self-indulgent, sensual people as worthy of my hatred; I simply look upon them with contempt for their poorness of character.

We know more about Tom [Cruise] and Katie [Holmes] than we do about global warming. We're the most entertained, least informed people in the world.

I love scandals about other people, but scandals about myself don’t interest me. They have not got the charm of novelty.

I just want to give people something to dance to, and something to cry to, and laugh to and fall in love to.

Loud indignation against vice often stands for virtue in the eyes of bigots.

People want to hear the dirt. But this is not really anything I want to talk about.

Science has learned recently that contempt and indignation are addictive mental states. I mean physically and chemically addictive. Literally! People who are self-righteous a lot are apparently doping themselves rhythmically with auto-secreted surges of dopamine, endorphins and enkephalins. Didn't you ever ask yourself why indignation feels so good?

Moral contempt is a far greater indignity and insult than any kind of crime.

Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.

I realized that my righteous indignation was a form of entertainment for me. I loved getting pissed off at injustice. I didn't do anything about it, I just liked the feeling of being pissed off.

Condemning others as bad or sinful is a way to feel righteous. Such a feeling is a powerful mood alteration and can become highly addictive.

One of the great things about having been on Lost is people coming up and feeling so enthusiastic about the show and saying, "Oh it provided us so much entertainment," or "It inspired conversations."

I rarely dislike people for things they can't change, they usually give me sufficient cause to dislike them for other reasons.

A sense of righteousness is even more dangerous than a violent temper.

Sometimes it's hard to hear criticism, or "maybe let's try a different way." People's feelings get hurt.

I don't want people leaving the theater depressed after my movies. I want them angry.

We have come to think of taking offence as a fundamental right. We value very little more highly than our rage, which gives us, in our opinion, the moral high ground. From there we can shoot down at our enemies and inflict heavy fatalities.

I think nobody wants to hear a sermon. Well, some people do, but maybe not through music or not with me. No one wants to hear me give a speech that way.

It is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes; but it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.