Famous Quotes by Jonathan Haidt

“The rider evolved to serve to the elephant.”

When people feel that their values are under attack, they become more committed to those values.

Understanding others requires suspending your own moral judgments and opening yourself to the possibility that some values are equally valid as your own.

If you really want to understand another group, follow the sacredness. Find out what is sacred to them and why.

Human beings are 90 percent chimp and 10 percent bee, and our bee-like nature allows us to be part of a hive, working together for common goals.

The road to wisdom begins with the recognition of our own biases.

We are ultra-social creatures, and our well-being depends on our connections with others.

Our moral thinking is much more like a politician searching for votes than a scientist searching for truth.

Moral arguments are seldom won with logic; they’re won by being part of the moral community and by gaining people's trust.

If you really want to open your mind, start by opening your heart to the people you disagree with.

Moral humility is realizing that everyone sees the world differently and acknowledging that no one has a monopoly on moral truth.

When you see others in pain, don’t jump to conclusions about why; jump to compassion for what they’re feeling.

Happiness comes from between. It comes from getting the right relationships between yourself and others, yourself and your work, and yourself and something larger than yourself.

Morality binds and blinds. It binds us into teams that fight for shared moral values; it blinds us to the fact that each team sees a different but morally compelling vision.

People bind themselves into political teams that share moral narratives. Once they accept a particular narrative, they become blind to alternative moral worlds.

The emotional tail wags the rational dog.

You can't make a dog happy by forcibly wagging its tail. And you can't change people's minds by utterly destroying their beliefs.

We are not only divided on our political beliefs but also on the very notion of what is right and wrong.

Humans are not purely self-interested creatures; we evolved with moral intuitions to protect others and foster cooperation.

Empathy can bridge our divides if we choose to use it as a foundation for action and understanding.

People don’t adopt their values through logic. They adopt them by aligning with groups that have narratives they find compelling.