Prateek Gupta

“So perhaps happiness is synchronising one’s personal delusions of meaning with the prevailing collective delusions. As long as my personal narrative is in line with the narratives of the people around me, I can convince myself that my life is meaningful, and find happiness in that conviction. This is quite a depressing conclusion. Does happiness really depend on self-delusion?”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“nationalism promises that whoever dies for the nation will for ever live in its collective memory. Yet this promise is so fuzzy that even most nationalists do not really know what to make of it.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“Instead of eating little, which will lead to economic contraction, people eat too much and then buy diet products – contributing to economic growth twice over.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“The typical premodern ruler gave money to priests, philosophers and poets in the hope that they would legitimise his rule and maintain the social order.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind