33 Quotes on Emotional Intelligence to Boost Your Overall Happiness
Research suggests a strong link between emotional intelligence and your own happiness.
This post is part of my Thought Leadership series: long-form articles aimed at teaching you how to build great work cultures where people and businesses flourish.
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Before we get to what you came here for -- the quotes -- let's address the title of this article. It suggests that there is a link between emotional intelligence (EQ) and achieving happiness. Could this be true? Does EQ really play a factor in increasing our happiness?
Not only is it true and a fact, it's well-documented. First off, emotional intelligence means being able to understand and manage emotions. Obviously, this plays a significant role in making individuals feel good and happy, especially in high-pressure situations.
One notable study aimed to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and happiness among 300 medical students at Shiraz Medical School. Being that medical students are under enormous pressure, the study found a significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence and happiness. Simply put, students with higher EQ tended to be happier.
The same research found that emotional intelligence helps individuals manage stress more effectively, which in turn contributes to greater happiness. It's a known fact that people with high EQ are better equipped to handle daily stresses, leading to improved mental health and well-being.
33 Inspiring Quotes on Emotional Intelligence
Here are 33 quotes to download into your conscience that will help you to understand emotions in yourself and others, and how this understanding can help manage your relationships and increase your overall happiness in life and at work. The key here is to apply what you read to make your life better.
When our emotional health is in a bad state, so is our level of self-esteem. We have to slow down and deal with what is troubling us, so that we can enjoy the simple joy of being happy and at peace with ourselves. — Jess C. Scott
Every time we allow someone to move us with anger, we teach them to be angry.
— Barry Neil Kaufman
Our feelings are not there to be cast out or conquered. They’re there to be engaged and expressed with imagination and intelligence. — T.K. Coleman
It isn’t stress that makes us fall – it’s how we respond to stressful events.
— Wayde Goodall
Use pain as a stepping stone, not a camp ground. — Alan Cohen
We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel. — Marshall B. Rosenberg
We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life. But we can decide what happens in us – how we can take it, what we do with it – and that is what really counts in the end. — Joseph Fort Newton
When awareness is brought to an emotion, power is brought to your life.
— Tara Meyer Robson
It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of heart over head – it is the unique intersection of both. — David Caruso
Where we have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves. — Carl Sagan
The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach. — Lin Yutang
Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality. — Erich Fromm
Experience is not what happens to you - it’s how you interpret what happens to you. — Aldous Huxley
Experiencing one’s self in a conscious manner – that is, gaining self-knowledge – is an integral part of learning. — Joshua M. Freedman
Feelings are not supposed to be logical. Dangerous is the man who has rationalized his emotions. — David Borenstein
For news of the heart, ask the face. — West African saying
He who spends time regretting the past loses the present and risks the future.
— Quevedo
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else: you are the one who gets burned. — Buddha
Realize that now, in this moment of time, you are creating. You are creating your next moment based on what you are feeling and thinking.
That is what’s real. — Doc Childre
Revenge has no more quenching effect on emotions than salt water has on thirst. — Walter Weckler
The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions. — Donald Calne
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving … and that’s your own self. — Aldous Huxley
You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind. — Dale Carnegie
The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm. — Aldous Huxley
When you listen with empathy to another person, you give that person psychological air. — Stephen R. Covey
Be not disturbed at being misunderstood;
be disturbed rather at not being understanding. — Chinese proverb
Change happens in the boiler room of our emotions —
so find out how to light their fires. — Jeff Dewar
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
— Paul Boese
Fall seven times, stand up eight. — Australian Aboriginal proverb
When awareness is brought to an emotion, power is brought to your life.
— Tara Meyer Robson
The most important educational goal is learning to learn. — Aristotle
Questions are the creative acts of intelligence. — Plato
The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. — William James
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