Behavioral Change Quotes

The question is the propriety of how we go about influencing and changing behavior.

I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically - any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace, you see. It is the most violent people who go for love and peace. Everything's the opposite. But I sincerely believe in love and peace. I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence. I will have to be a lot older before I can face in public how I treated women as a youngster.

The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.

It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.

One of the most difficult things is not to change society - but to change yourself.

People say, "I wish I had more motivation today, because then I would try something." But our thinking is backward. The way our brain works is that dopamine - the so-called feel-good chemical - is released the second we actually do something. So the motivation doesn't come before, it comes after.

Treat people the way they are and they will stay that way. Treat people the way they can become and they will become that way.

No, you can’t force other people to change. You can, however, change just about everything else. And usually, that’s enough.

Every man is the sum total of his reactions to experience. As your experiences differ and multiply, you become a different man, and hence your perspective changes. This goes on and on. Every reaction is a learning process; every significant experience alters your perspective.

If we take people only as they are, then we make them worse; if we treat them as if they were what they should be, then we bring them to where they can be brought.

Responsible moral behavior is the first and best line of defense against AIDS, and is the only message we should send young people worldwide.

You become like the people you spend the most time with.

There are people in the world who have the power to change our values.

One can acquire some virtues by feigning them for a long time.

Change your way of thinking, change your way of doing, change your way of choosing.

Small acts by millions of people - imagine the impact of that. If someone changes one thing, they're likely to change two things, and then three things. Then they're likely to demand that from their leadership.

Americans learn only from catastrophe and not from experience.

The difficult part was getting the people to change their habits so that they behaved more like first world citizens, not like third world citizens spitting and littering all over the place.

"Save more tomorrow" is a nudge to help people do what they know they want to do, which is save more, but they can't bring themselves to save more now. Just like many of us are planning to go on diets next month, or maybe in two months, certainly not tonight.

I overheard one of my friends say, 'If Amari scores, I bet he's real happy and he'll get real excited.' I just so happened to score, and since I heard him say that, I was like, 'Nah, I'm not going to get really excited.' And for some reason, that felt like the right thing to do. I been the same way since.

We have to try to cure our faults by attention and not by will.

Remember: You are the common denominator in all your relationship problems. Wherever you go, your pesky repeated issues go - until you shed a blazing light of insight upon them.

People don't dislike change, they dislike being changed.

The moment you've convinced someone that you truly understand her dreams and feelings, mental and behavioral change becomes possible, and the foundation for a breakthrough has been laid.

It's very difficult to regulate yourself, and if you learn to do that, well, it starts to spill over.