Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quality Quotations

Pleasure is an important component of the quality of life, but by itself it does not bring happiness. Pleasure helps to maintain order, but by itself cannot create a new order in consciousness.

If you're alone with nothing to do, the quality of your experience really plummets.

To gain control over the quality of experience, one needs to learn how to build enjoyment into what happens day in, day out.

If the firms that employ an increasing majority of the population are driven solely to satisfy the owner's greed at the expense of working conditions, of the stability of the community, and of the health of the environment, chances are that the quality of our lives will be worse than it is now.

Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.

People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy.

What I "discovered" was that happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune or random chance. It is not something that money can buy or power command. It does not depend on outside events, but, rather, on how we interpret them. Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy.