Richard Wiseman Quotes & Sayings

Unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner, and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through the newspaper determined to find certain job advertisements and, as a result, miss other types of jobs. Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there, rather than just what they are looking for. — Richard Wiseman

Researchers discovered that people who have just consumed caffeinated drinks were more likely to be swayed by arguments about various controversial topics.55 In short, good evidence that there really is no such thing as a free lunch or an innocent cup of coffee. — Richard Wiseman

Hugely enjoyable and insightfulGosling has produced the perfect combination of rigorous research and lightness of prose to create a book that will transform every reader into a super snooper. — Richard Wiseman

You know, in this job we really need someone who is responsible." The man thinks for a moment, then replies, "I am perfect for you. In my last job lots of things went badly wrong, and they always said that I was responsible. — Richard Wiseman

Visualize Yourself Doing, Not Achieving. — Richard Wiseman

When people can afford necessities in life, an increase in income dones not result in a significantly happier life. — Richard Wiseman

Unlucky people are stuck in routines. When they see something new, they want no part of it. Lucky people always want something new. They're prepared to take risks and relaxed enough to see the opportunities in the first place. — Richard Wiseman

Lucky people create, notice, and act upon the chance opportunities in their lives. — Richard Wiseman

We are far more like somebody watching ourselves than somebody in charge of ourselves. — Richard Wiseman

The Hollywood comedienne Gracie Allen was so secretive about her age that even her husband, the fellow performer George Burns, didn't know her real date of birth. Various sources claim that Allen was born on July 26 in 1894, 1895, 1897, 1902, or 1906. Throughout her life, Allen claimed that her birth certificate was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, even though the earthquake occurred a few months before her alleged birthday. When asked about the discrepancy, Allen allegedly remarked, 'Well, it was an awfully big earthquake. — Richard Wiseman

Happiness doesn't just flow from success; it actually causes it. — Richard Wiseman

Spend just a few nights sleeping for seven hours or less and your brain goes into slow motion. To make matters worse, you will continue to feel fine and so don't make allowances for your sluggish mind. Within just a couple of days this level of sleep deprivation transforms you into an accident waiting to happen. — Richard Wiseman

The results from both studies clearly indicated that in terms of short- and long-term happiness, buying experiences made people feel better than buying products. — Richard Wiseman

Albert Einstein once said, Sit with a beautiful woman for an hour and it seems like a minute, sit on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour - that's relativity. — Richard Wiseman

Napping is often seen as a form of laziness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hundreds of experiments have demonstrated the enormous benefits associated with even the shortest of sleeps, and so it is vital that you make napping part of your daily routine. — Richard Wiseman

Buy Experiences Not Goods. Want to buy happiness? Then spend your hard-earned cash on experiences. Go out for a meal. Go to a concert, cinema or theatre. Go on holiday. Go and learn how to pole dance. Go paintballing. Go bungee jumping. In fact, get involved in anything that provides an opportunity to do things with others, and then tell even more people about it afterwards. When it comes to happiness, remember that it is experiences that represent really good value for money. — Richard Wiseman

The message is that people are more likely to agree with you when they have already said something positive. — Richard Wiseman

Magicians are manipulating your consciousness. They are showing you something impossible. They're getting you to construct a narrative, which simply isn't true. So that means they know how to make you aware of certain things and blind to other things. What I'm hoping is that magic, this entertainment vehicle that has been around for a long time, will give us a real insight into the deep mysteries of consciousness — Richard Wiseman

I agree that by the standards of any other area of science that remote viewing is proven.. — Richard Wiseman

The next time you are trying to be creative in a meeting, gently lean forward and pull against the table. When the going gets tough, cross your arms to help perseverance in the face of failure. If that doesn't work, lie down. If anyone accuses you of being lazy, quietly explain that you are employing your locus coeruleus in the war against rigid thinking. — Richard Wiseman

Materialism takes root in early childhood, and is driven mainly by low self-esteem. — Richard Wiseman

Because remote viewing is such an outlandish claim that will revolutionise the world, we need overwhelming evidence before we draw any conclusions. Right now we don't have that evidence. — Richard Wiseman

Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles.
They are skilled at creating their own chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good. — Richard Wiseman

Luck is not a magical ability or a gift from the gods. Instead, it is a way of thinking and behaving. — Richard Wiseman

We do not love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we do them. — Richard Wiseman

To ensure a well-motivated participant, Pfungst rewarded Clever Hans with a small piece of bread, carrot or sugar each time he responded (interestingly, this same procedure still works well with most undergraduate students today). — Richard Wiseman

The concept of luck is very straightforward. Some people notice opportunities and others don't. — Richard Wiseman

We're starting to realize that magicians have a lot of implicit know-ledge about how we perceive the world around us because they have to deceive us in terms of controlling attention, exploiting the assumptions we make when we do and don't notice a change in our environment. There is an enormous amount of really detailed instruction on how to perform magic. People are always blown away by how detailed a description you'll have. — Richard Wiseman

Compared to individuals, groups tend to be more dogmatic, better able to justify irrational actions, more likely to see their actions as highly moral, and more apt to form stereotypical views of outsiders. — Richard Wiseman

In short, when it comes to an instant fix for everyday happiness, certain types of writing have a surprisingly quick and large impact. Expressing gratitude, thinking about a perfect future, and affectionate writing have been scientifically proven to work - and all they require is a pen, a piece of paper, and a few moments of your time. — Richard Wiseman

Thanks to our capacity to adapt to ever greater fame and fortune, yesterday's luxuries can soon become today's necessities and tomorrow's relics.6 — Richard Wiseman

Our beliefs do not sit passively in our brains waiting to be confirmed or contradicted by incoming information. Instead, they play a key role in shaping how we see the world. — Richard Wiseman

As we continue toward the fifth secret technique of psychics, I have a gut feeling that you are the sort of person that lets your heart rule your head, can sometimes be too impulsive for your own good, and have recently come into contact with a goat. Rest assured you are not the only one. — Richard Wiseman

I am not a fan of Sigmund Freud because his theories are not testicle. — Richard Wiseman

When it comes to happiness, remember, it is experiences that represent really good value for the money. — Richard Wiseman

When you gossip about another person, listeners unconsciously associate you with the characteristics you are describing, ultimately leading to those characteristics' being "transferred" to you. So, say positive and pleasant things about friends and colleagues, and you are seen as a nice person. In contrast, constantly complain about their failings, and people will unconsciously apply the negative traits and incompetence to you. — Richard Wiseman