What Robert Waldinger thinks about happiness
Psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and Zen priest; director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and co-author with Marc Schulz of The Good Life (2023).
Robert Waldinger did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
3 dated positions, 2023, in their own words. Our reading of what Robert Waldinger has said — not written or endorsed by them.
The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.
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Our readingHelping others benefits the helper: generosity and happiness feed each other in an upward spiral.
Their wordsHelping others benefits the one who helps. There is both a neural and a practical link between generosity and happiness.
- 11 days earlier
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Their wordsIf we step back and look at all 84 years of the Harvard Study and boil the findings down to a single principle for living, one life investment that is supported by similar findings across a wide variety of other studies, it would be this: good relationships keep us healthier and happier, period.
↗The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, five key insights (with Marc Schulz), Next Big Idea Clubnextbigideaclub.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsIt is almost impossible to have one without the other. A good life, in fact, is forged from precisely the things that make it hard.
↗The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, five key insights (with Marc Schulz), Next Big Idea Clubnextbigideaclub.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.