The feeling that we call “I” is itself the product of thought. Having an ego is what it feels like to be thinking without knowing that you are thinki… - Sam Harris

if each party values his opponent’s concessions as gains and his own as losses, each is bound to perceive his sacrifice as being greater.34

we are all seeking fulfillment while living at the mercy of changing experience. Whatever we acquire in life gets dispersed. Our bodies age. Our relationships fall away. Even the most intense pleasures last only a few moments. And every morning, we are chased out of bed by our thoughts.

You can’t get enough of your favorite meal until, in the next moment, you find you are so stuffed as to nearly require the attention of a surgeon — and yet, by some quirk of physics, you still have room for dessert.