The 40 best quotes by Eduard Punset on happiness and love

Economist, politician, science popularizer... we review the best famous quotes of Punset.

Eduard Punset (1936 - 2019) was an exceptional character.. Born in Barcelona in 1936, his life was full of successes and very unusual experiences.

Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first years of Spain's Democratic Transition, his training as an economist and his openness to dialogue gave him a spectacular career in different fields. After concluding his time in politics, Eduard Punset became progressively interested in the world of science and popularization.

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Famous phrases and quotes by Eduard Punset, the Spanish 'Einstein'.

His work as a science communicator is as extensive as it is exciting. Especially interested in topics such as neuroscience, happiness or love, Punset was a well-known face in Spanish society, especially after his time as head of the Redes program broadcast by public television.

We update the article, today May 22, 2019, to announce with great sadness that Eduard Punset has passed away todayat the age of 82, after fighting a serious illness. Our heartfelt condolences to Eduard's family, as well as to all the followers who enjoyed and learned with him. May he rest in peace.

In this article we are going to know the best famous quotes and phrases of Eduard Punset.

1. Without emotion there is no project.

The basis of motivation is the emotion with which we propel ourselves towards the future.

2. Love existed before the soul.

An esoteric phrase by Eduard Punset that can leave us thinking.

3. For me, freedom is that the King has no more rights than I do.

The absence of privilege is the basis of any free and egalitarian society.

4. None of your neurons know who you are... nor do they care.

Ironically, the cells in charge of thought have no self-awareness.

5. I have learned more from animals than from humans.

More phenomena are explained in nature than in the complex post-industrial society.

6. The soul is in the brain.

According to Eduard Punset, if the soul is located anywhere, it is in our mind.

7. Politics is the worst human invention.

In spite of having dedicated part of his career to politics (or perhaps because of it), Eduard Punset speaks in this way about the public scene.

8. Be kind to people when you go up; you will find them all when you come down.

Even if you succeed, don't forget that nothing lasts forever.

9. When it comes to love and heartbreak, we are like newborns all our lives.

We live learning how to relate to each other, and we never quite know how to act in certain situations.

10. Happiness is ephemeral, it is a transitory state.

What does science tell us about happiness? Punset is clear that we cannot aspire to live always smiling.

11. Sex is like memory, if it is not used, it disappears.

These are skills that must be trained frequently.

12. It is very likely that the best decisions are not the result of a reflection of the brain but the result of an emotion.

We tend to underestimate the power of our emotions. Our emotional side is also capable of leading us in the right direction.

13. Unlearning most of the things we have been taught is more important than learning.

The influence of the media binds us to a culture of myths and half-truths.

14. If life were eternal, we would not put the same intensity into it.

Being finite individuals impels us to make the most of every minute of life.

15. Even bacteria work by consensus, or not at all.

A metaphor that can be extrapolated to societies.

16. God is getting smaller and smaller and science is getting bigger and bigger.

As science progresses, it is more and more ridiculous to think that a superior entity can exist.

17. Undoubtedly, the industry will continue to grow. The problem is that this eagerness to drive its growth will also create the temptation to control. We have tried it with women, until we saw that they were not our property. Then with children and animals... I hope the same thing doesn't happen with the Internet.

On the society of control and its transformation with the emergence of new technologies.

18. Happiness is hidden in the waiting room of happiness.

Happiness is that which is presumed when we expect it. Ironic but true.

19. In life there are three crucial moments: the stage of maternal love, school and the entrance to maturity.

The stages of life according to this famous quote by Eduard Punset.

20. Power has been exercised abjectly for thousands of years.

Slavery, social classes, marginalization, discrimination of ethnic and cultural minorities... a sentence by Punset that explains itself.

21. I do not see it impossible that in the middle of life one can dedicate a few years to study other universes and then postpone the date of retirement.

About his lifestyle and his interest in astronomy.

22. I have met many men who were not half as affectionate as monkeys.

Especially happy to share time and space with primates, Punset left this funny phrase for posterity.

23. What is needed is more knowledge.

A quick but scathing critique of the Spanish educational system.

24. Majority thought? I believe that thinking is always in the minority.

This was Eduard Punset's ironic response in an interview.

25. I think that first we must realize that there is life before death and not be obsessed all the time to find out if there is life after death.

We live in a state of anxiety about the hereafter, without paying attention to the wonders of the "hereafter".

26. One of the current failures is the absence of young leadership. Evolutionarily, the herd always resorted to the young when it had difficulties: crossing a river, climbing a mountain.

In politics, it is clear that young leadership is a rarity.

27. A person who has a very high degree of aggressiveness, a need for stimulation and a need for dominance to replace his lack of emotions, is more likely to become a murderer or even a serial killer.

On the aggressive personality.

28. Today one cannot be pessimistic, because, when you look back, any past time was worse.

Certainly, and with all the problems of representative democracy, our era is the one that distributes more comforts and rights among citizens.

29. I have some bald friends and I tell them that throughout evolution, baldness served a purpose: to avoid infections from lice, fleas and insects.

This audacious answer, although it may seem like a simple joke, is actually a well-studied evolutionary phenomenon.

30. Is there still anyone who looks for solutions in what the bishops say?

Another phrase of Eduard Punset that demonstrates his distrust of the Catholic religion.

31. We must rediscover where the capacity to innovate lies: in the acquisition of new skills such as digital management techniques, the ability to concentrate despite the multiplicity of supports, teamwork and the vocation to solve problems.

An innovative approach to the future of companies and post-industrial society.

32. Even if a poor person becomes rich, he will still suffer from the same diseases that affect the poor, as a result of the oppression he suffered in the past.

A paradox of wealth and inequality.

33. In the future it will not so much be a question of redistributing wealth as in the past, but of redistributing working time.

Although many economists and sociologists have been promulgating ideas such as Degrowth for years, it seems that the political formulas to articulate Eduard Punset's thinking have not yet arrived.

34. Love was the first survival instinct in the history of the species and is linked to passion.

To reflect for days on love and past experiences.

35. We live with the technological changes of the 21st century and with social institutions of the 19th century.

His reflection on the gap between technology and science with respect to the model of society that is promoted by public institutions.

36. Without love there is no life. We have the instinct to merge with another individual, because we feel helpless in life.

Another phrase that distills knowledge from years of studying the human condition.

37. When you are in the womb, we inherit 200 harmful mutations. It remains a mystery how we can resist such an enormous level of damaging mutations.

On the enigmas of genetics.

38. Passionate or romantic love has a lot to do with sex. Love existed billions of years before sexual differentiation.

The biology of our ancestors was totally different from ours.

39. I spent my childhood in a village of 300 inhabitants, and I grew up in the street. My compatriots were birds, and I used to raise owls.

A curious reel about a childhood during the Civil War.

40. When there is no fear, there is happiness.

A sentence about happiness by the great Punset.