Getting bogged down in old stories stops the flow of learning by censoring our perceptions, making us functionally deaf and blind to new information. Once the replay button gets pushed, we no longer form new ideas or conclusions - the old ones are so cozy.

— Martha Beck

Good-looking individuals are treated better than homely ones in virtually every social situation, from dating to trial by jury.

— Martha Beck

Good-looking individuals are treated better than homely ones in virtually every social situation, from dating to trial by jury. If everyday experience hasn't convinced you of this, there's research that will.

— Martha Beck

Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone.

— Martha Beck

I am bewildering you a little. Just enough to help you forget what you came to believe, so that you can remember what you’ve always known.

— Martha Beck

I feel about aging the way William Saroyan said he felt about death: Everybody has to do it, but I always believed an exception would be made in my case.

— Martha Beck

If we're stuck with having expectations, there's a very good reason to embrace positive ones: It's that we often create what we anticipate.

— Martha Beck

If you're living completely on your own, break out of solitary confinement. Seek to understand others, and help them understand you.

— Martha Beck

I had a client who was a professional baseball player once, and he would go to clubs and dance for seven, eight, nine hours at a time. He wouldn't drink, he wouldn't take drugs - he just danced because he had so much physical energy; he was this amazing athlete.

— Martha Beck

It takes about four days of virtuous living to create a little weight loss. That also happens to be the time required to get used to eating less. In other words, if you can get past day three of a fitness regimen, things improve.

— Martha Beck