Quotes from Scott Adams

People think they follow advice but they don't. Humans are only capable of receiving information. They create their own advice. If you seek to influence someone, don't waste time giving advice. You can change only what people know, not what they do.

When you can release on your ego long enough to view your perceptions as incomplete or misleading, it gives you the freedom to imagine new and potentially more useful ways of looking at the world.

shyness is caused by an internal feeling that you are not worthy to be in the conversation.

We humans like to think we are creatures of reason. We aren't. The reality is that we make our decisions first and rationalize them later....Your illusion of being a rational person is supported by the fact that sometimes you do act rationally.

If you see something that impresses you, a decent respect to humanity insists you voice your praise.

Everyone is an idiot, not just the people with low SAT scores. The only differences among us is that we're idiots about different things at different times. No matter how smart you are, you spend much of your day being an idiot.

The only way to succeed in the long run is by using a system that bypasses your need for willpower.

Passion feels very democratic. It is the people's talent, available to all. It's also mostly bullshit.

The great thing about reading diverse news from the fields of business, health, science, technology, politics, and more is that you automatically see patterns in the world and develop mental hooks upon which you can hang future knowledge.

In the long run, any system that depends on your willpower will fail.

mocking people for lying probably helps to reduce future lies and make the world a better place, whereas mocking people for things they can't change is just being a jerk.

Unhappiness that is caused by too much success is a high-class problem. That's the sort of unhappiness people work all of their lives to get. If you find yourself there, and I hope you do, you'll find your attention naturally turning outward. You'll seek happiness through service to others. I promise it will feel wonderful.

For our purposes, let's say a goal is a specific objective that you either achieve or don't sometime in the future. A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run. If you do something every day, it's a system. If you're waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it's a goal.

the simplest explanation usually sounds right and is far more convincing than any complicated explanation could hope to be.

Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue

Our arrogance causes us to imagine special value in this temporary collection of molecules. Why do we perceive more spiritual value in the sum of our body parts than on any individual cell in our body? Why don't we hold funerals when skin cells die?

But never being wrong is no proof that the method of testing is sound for all cases

over the years I have cultivated a unique relationship with failure. I invite it. I survive it. I appreciate it. And then I mug the shit out of it.

The process of concentrating on the goal every day greatly increases the likelihood of noticing an opportunity in the environment. The coincidence will create the illusion that writing down the goal causes the environment to produce opportunities. But in reality the only thing that changes is the person's ability to notice the opportunities.

Managing your personal energy is like managing budgets in a company.

I would define an asshole as anyone who chooses to make the lives of others less pleasant for reasons that don't appear productive or necessary.

I've long seen failure as a tool, not an outcome.

I have no reason to believe humans evolved with the capability to understand their reality. That capability was not important to survival. When it comes to evolution, any illusion that keeps us alive long enough to procreate is good enough.

One thing I can say with complete certainty is that it is a bad idea to trust the majority of experts in any domain in which both complexity and large amounts of money are involved.