Quotes by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

About Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College.[citation needed]
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

All our contemporaries...had some big ideology to live for. Everybody thought he had to either fight in Spain or die for something else, and most of us had to be in prison for one reason or another. And then at the end it turns out that none of these...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

In other words, if Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy showed more than their fair share of pathology it was due less to the requirements of their creative work than to the personal sufferings caused by the unhealthy conditions of a Russian society nearing colla...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Currently spirituality is at an ebb in the more advanced technological societies. This in part because memes that validate spiritual order tend to lose their credibility with time, and need to be recast in new forms again and again. At present we are...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Contrary to what we usually believe, moments like these, the best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually ...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

..Such practices and beliefs, which interfere with happiness, are neither inevitable nor necessary; they evolved by chance, as a result of random responses to accidental conditions. But once they become part of the norms and habits of a culture, peop...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

It might be true that it is “quality time” that counts, but after a certain point quantity has a bearing on quality.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

How we feel about ourselves, the joy we get from living, ultimately depend directly on how to the mind filters and interprets everyday experiences. Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

By nature, however, we are born ignorant. Therefore should we not try to learn? Some people produce more than the usual amount of androgens and therefore become excessively aggressive. Does that mean they should freely express violence? We cannot den...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

On the job people feel skillful and challenged, and therefore feel more happy, strong, creative, and satisfied. In their free time people feel that there is generally not much to do and their skills are not being used, and therefore they tend to feel...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

If one has failed to develop curiosity and interest in the early years, it is a good idea to acquire them now, before it is too late to improve the quality of life. To do so is fairly easy in principle, but more difficult in practice. Yet it is sure ...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

These examples suggest what one needs to learn to control attention. In principle any skill or discipline one can master on one’s own will serve: meditation and prayer if one is so inclined; exercise, aerobics, martial arts for those who prefer con...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

But shortcuts are dangerous; we cannot delude ourselves that our knowledge is further along than it actually is.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

If we know what that set point is, we can predict fairly accurately when you will be in flow, and it will be when your challenges are higher than average and skills are higher than average.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Discipline is not always internalized and actually can breed resentment among children.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

People enter Web sites hoping to be led somewhere, hoping for a payoff.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Goals transform a random walk into a chase.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Competition is an easy way to get into flow.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

And, in fact, you can find that the lack of basic resources, material resources, contributes to unhappiness, but the increase in material resources do not increase happiness.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

A Web site that promotes flow is like a gourmet meal. You start off with the appetizers, move on to the salads and entrees, and build toward dessert. Unfortunately, most sites are built like a cafeteria. You pick whatever you want. That sounds good a...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Author Bio

  • NameMihaly Csikszentmihalyi
  • DescriptionHungarian American psychologist
  • BornSeptember 29, 1934
  • CountryUnited States Of America; Hungary
  • ProfessionPsychologist