From time to time I share quotes from my wanderings that seem useful to entrepreneurs. This latest collection, though, is a bit different.
Our funds have been focusing more and more in recent months on the emerging science of health and the delivery of happiness. We see transformations in science related to health, medicine, care, and mental states across a broad landscape of core human experience. And we see corresponding shifts in individual behavior that indicate a huge readiness among the world population to use these breakthroughs heavily as they emerge. It is one of the biggest investment opportunities we have even seen.
So, here—shared with joy—is a selection of quotes about that topic: the transformation of health and its interplay with individual happiness.
“We all seek a path to happiness. Practicing kindness toward others is one we know works. The trick you need to know: Acts of kindness have to be repeated.
Biochemically, you can’t live on the 3-to-4-minute oxytocin boost that comes from a single act…The rewards of acts of kindness are many. They help us feel better and they help those who receive them. We’re building better selves and better communities at the same time.”
– Dr. Waguih William IsHak, Professor of Psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
– Aesop
“People tend to liken their emotions to the weather, viewing them as uncontrollable. This research shows not only that our emotions are controllable, but also that we can take the reins of our daily emotions and steer ourselves toward better physical health. The daily moments of connection that people feel with others emerge as the tiny engines that drive the upward spiral between positivity and health.”
– Barbara Fredrickson, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina
“It’s kind of like weight training; we found that people can actually build up their compassion ‘muscle’ and respond to others’ suffering with care and a desire to help.”
– Dr. Richard Davidson, Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin
“We already know that psychosocial interventions like mindfulness meditation will help you feel better mentally, but now for the first time we have evidence that they can also influence key aspects of your biology.”
– Dr. Linda Carlson of the Tom Baker Cancer Center, University of Calgary
“About half of participants in one study reported that they feel stronger and more energetic after helping others; many also reported feeling calmer and less depressed, with increased feelings of self-worth.”
– Christine Carter, Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley
“People who volunteer tend to experience fewer aches and pains. Giving help to others protects overall health twice as much as aspirin protects against heart disease.
People 55 and older who volunteer for two or more organizations have an impressive 44% lower likelihood of dying early, and that’s after sifting out every other contributing factor, including physical health, exercise, gender, habits like smoking, marital status and many more. This is a stronger effect than exercising four times a week or going to church.”
– Christine Carter, Author, “Raising Happiness; In Pursuit of Joyful Kids and Happier Parents”
“Happiness is a default state. It’s what’s there when you remove the sense that something is missing from your life.”
“Nature has no concept of happiness or unhappiness.”
“In nature – everything is perfect the way it is.”
“It’s only in our particular minds that we’re unhappy or happy.”
“Every positive thought has a seed of a negative thought within it. An example – if someone says they’re happy, it means they were unhappy at some point.”
-All from investor Naval Ravikant
“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.”
– Albert Schweitzer
“He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.”
– Arabian proverb
“Happiness is the highest form of health.”
– Dalai Lama
“The greatest wealth is health.”
– Virgil
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
– Hippocrates
“You’re in pretty good shape for the shape you are in.
– Dr. Seuss
“When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy.”
– Chinese proverb
“In a disordered mind, as in a disordered body, soundness of health is impossible.”
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Your health is what you make of it. Everything you do and think either adds to the vitality, energy and spirit you possess or takes away from it.”
– Dr. Ann Wigmore, Natural Health Institute
“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s.”
– Irish proverb
“Give a man health and a course to steer, and he’ll never stop to trouble about whether he’s happy or not.”
– George Bernard Shaw
“The scientific truth may be put quite briefly; eat moderately, having an ordinary mixed diet, and don’t worry.”
– Robert Hutchison
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
– Buddha
“Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos – the trees, the clouds, everything.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness…To live is enough.”
– Suzuki Roshi, founder, San Francisco Zen Center
