People hold onto a delusion that there's something out there that will make them happy and fulfilled forever. No single thing can do that.

Achieving happiness isn't a one-time acquisition — it's a process of understanding and self-discovery, training yourself to see certain truths.

If obtaining things made us permanently happy, the cavemen would have been miserable and we'd be deliriously happy. Yet net happiness per person isn't going up — and may be going down.

Happiness is returning to the state where nothing is missing in this moment.

When you finally get what you wanted, you revert to the state you were in before you had it. There's no peak level of bliss you stay on forever.