“We can put women on Prozac and they will think they are happy, even though they are not. Disturbed animals in the zoo are given Prozac too, which rather suggests that misery is a response to unbearable circumstances rather than constitutional.”

“The happiness which is lacking makes one think even the happiness one has unbearable.”

“There's no doubt you smoke to calm yourself. I know I do. That's my decision about how I keep calm. I prefer that to Prozac. In fact I think it's healthier. I couldn't go to another New York party where they're all drinking water and on Prozac and telling you off for smoking.”

“I have not much pride under such circumstances: I would always rather be happy than dignified.”

“He would not anticipate those counsels which are rather bestowed by circumstances on men, than by men on circumstances.”

“Both men and women are conceived as merely capable of response to a situation that their society has already defined for them as sexual, and so the Arapesh feel that it is necessary to chaperon betrothed couples who are too young… with their definition of sex as a response to an external situation rather than as spontaneous desire, both men and women are regarded as helpless in the face of seduction. Parents warn their sons even more than they warn their daughters against permitting themselves to get into situations in which someone can make love to them.”

“Most of the people are placing too much emphasis of their happiness on price, rather than on value.”

“Atheists enjoy weekends, even though they are more religious, rather than scientific.”

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.”

“We are not just rather like animals; we are animals.”