Quote

Thinking rationally is often different from positive thinking, in that it is a realistic assessment of the situation, with a view towards rectifying the problem if possible.

Albert Ellis

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Albert Ellis
Age: 93 †
Born: 1913
Born: September 27
Died: 2007
Died: July 24
Behaviour Therapist
Cognitive Scientist
Non-Fiction Writer
Psychologist
Sex Educator
Pittsburg
Pennsylvania
Problem
Towards
Different
Positive
Thinking
View
Views
Brain
Situation
Rationally
Possible
Assessment
Often
Realistic

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There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy.
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There's no evidence whatsoever that men are more rational than women. Both sexes seem to be equally irrational.
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If the Martians ever find out how human beings think, they'll kill themselves laughing.
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If people stopped looking on their emotions as ethereal, almost inhuman processes, and realistically viewed them as being largely composed of perceptions, thoughts, evaluations, and internalized sentences, they would find it quite possible to work calmly and concertedly at changing them.
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Most people would have given up when faced with all the criticism I've received over the years.
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Humans can always accept themselves unconditionally.
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I teach people to be flexible, scientific and logical in their thinking and therefore to be less prone to brainwashing by the therapist.
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People are terrified of other people or difficult projects because they tell themselves that they could fail or be rejected. Failure can lead to sorrow, regret, frustration and annoyance-all healthy feelings without which people couldn't exist.
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Happiness is experienced largely in striving towards a goal, not in having attained things, because our nature is always to want to go on to the next endeavor.
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We teach people that they upset themselves. We can't change the past, so we change how people are thinking, feeling and behaving today.
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For that again, is what all manner of religion essentially is: childish dependency.
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You have only to exist as you do and to live your life as best you can.
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The easy way out is often just that-the 'easy' way out of the most rewarding lifestyle.
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Eating is always a decision, nobody forces your hand to pick up food and put it into your mouth.
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Acceptance is not love. You love a person because he or she has lovable traits, but you accept everybody just because they're alive and human.
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This, perhaps, goes to show that conditional self-esteem, as I have said for many years, is an insidious, real sickness, so much so that even Buddhists carelessly sneak it in and sometimes encourage their clients to achieve it.
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Failure doesn't have anything to do with your intrinsic value as a person.
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Being assertive does not mean attacking or ignoring others feelings. It means that you are willing to hold up for yourself fairly-without attacking others.
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People could rationally decide that prolonged relationships take up too much time and effort and that they'd much rather do other kinds of things. But most people are afraid of rejection.
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As a result of my philosophy, I wasn't even upset about Hitler. I was willing to go to war to knock him off, but I didn't hate him. I hated what he was doing.
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