Alexandra Burrowes

“The optimist believes that bad events have specific causes, while good events will enhance everything he does; the pessimist believes that bad events have universal causes and that good events are caused by specific factors. When”
― Martin E.P. Seligman, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

“In the struggle to cure syphilis in the first decade of the century, Paul Ehrlich concocted a drug, 606, that worked by poisoning Treponema pallidum, the spirochete that causes syphilis. It was called 606 because before it Ehrlich concocted 605 other drugs, none of which worked. Ehrlich, presumably, experienced 605 defeats but persisted.”
― Martin E.P. Seligman, The Optimistic Child

“The skills of becoming happy turn out to be almost entirely different from the skills of not being sad, not being anxious, or not being angry.”
― Martin E.P. Seligman, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

“Authentic happiness derives from raising the bar for yourself, not rating yourself against others.”
― Martin E.P. Seligman, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment