Jonathan Haidt Quotes

What you see determines how you interpret the world, which in turn influences what you expect of the world and how you expect the story of your life to unfold.

We can never be quite clear whether we are referring to the world as it is or to the world as we see it.

The world you see is less of an indication about the world and more of an indication about your seeing.

To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is – in other words, not a thing, but a think.

I don't think the world objectively exists the way we think it exists. There's a constant sort of storytelling process.

The way we describe our world shows how we think of our world. How we think of our world governs how we interpret our world. How we interpret our world directs how we participate in the world. How we participate in the world shapes the world.

I think perception is important.

Our perspectives on situations act like a lens through which we view the world.

How you imagine the world determines how you live in it.

My perspective will create my perception

There are some oddities in the perspective with which we see the world.

Nature is what you see plus what you think about it.

I think the world is like a great mirror, and reflects our lives just as we ourselves look upon it.

We must look at the lens through we see the world, as well as the world we see, and that the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world.

Lots of people are unable to see all kinds of truths right in front of their eyes." "The world is what we make it, and our future is ours to shape.

Everything hangs on one's thinking.

I've also learned from [Dalai Lama] that we make the world by how we choose to look at it. In any situation you can make it constructive or dismaying, depending on that powerful computer we call the mind.

Nothing terrible has ever happened except in our thinking. Reality is always good, even in situations that seem like nightmares. The story we tell is the only nightmare that we have lived.

Perspective - Use It or Lose It. If you turned to this page, you're forgetting that what is going on around you is not reality. Think about that.

All things show up in the world according to the purposes we ascribe to them.

When you don't understand, you depend on reality. When you do understand, reality depends on you.

You can only live in the world you ken. The rest is just wishful thinking or paranoia.

We have the ability to create choice by altering our interpretations of the world.

Perception is a prism, and reality is like shot silk - depends where the light hits.