When the options are few, we can be happy with what we choose since we are confident that it is the best possible choice for us. When the options are practically infinite, though, we believe that the perfect choice for us must be out there somewhere and that it’s our responsibility to find it. Choosing can become a lose-lose situation: if we make a choice quickly without fully exploring the available options, we’ll regret potentially missing out on something better; if we do exhaustively consider all the options, we’ll expend more effort (which won’t necessarily increase the quality of our final choice), and if we discover other good options, we may regret that we can’t choose them all.


Sheena Iyengar

  Email Quote to Friends   Link to Quote   Create Short URL  Publish Text About This Quote   Share on Facebook, Twitter, and more
  See Recommended Quotes For You

Related

If we all look at life we think how nice, then we look at death and everybody goes oh you can say th...
GARY F EVANS...
The words you can’t find, you borrow.
We read to know we’re not alone. We read because w...
GABRIELLE ZEVIN
A couple of customers interrupted [...] who wanted to know if we had some YA book about ants and ali...
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON
If you love someone you must set them free like the wind and give them the respect they deserve.If y...
GARY F EVANS...
Air is approximately 21% oxygen, our brains feed off of oxygen. So basically we are all airheads.
ANDONI GARCIA
Inspired By Beauty In Creation We Are One
DANIEL GILMAN
If we're honest with ourselves, most of us know the one thing we lack.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
We may not get to choose how we die, but we can chose how we live.
The universe may for...
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON
Dreams are hopeful because they exist as pure possibility. Unlike memories, which are fossils, long ...
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON
I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made ...
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
I am aware that everyone that exists has a story, and we all exist because that story is important f...
ARZELL
Dae FATE NAYAE Nanagha Vandhuttoom Da, Sandy , Na Nata, London Lass,Russian Grapes, Ellorum Ippa Van...
SATHESH KUMAR M
Each of us views life through a different lens. What we think is colored by the baggage we carry, an...
LAURIE BUCHANAN, PHD
Because you can only die once but you can suffer forever.
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON
We do not choose to be born...We do not--most of us, choose to die, or the times or conditions of ou...
JOSEPH EPSTEIN
If there are two options, smiling is always the best choice.
CHLOE THURLOW
It was pivotal in making you but you don't remember it. Or do you? Do we understand the events that ...
DOUGLAS COUPLAND
We are exploring all our options. Investors, someone who would like to acquire us or whatever. We ar...
CAROLINE JAPIC
Everything is open. We are going to thoroughly consider all of the options open to us. Having said t...
BOB BUTCHOFSKY
The more we give, the more we reap the benefits of feeling good in helping others. We are all capabl...
ANGIE KARAN
We can all do a better job - the department, states and school districts - to make sure strong publi...
CHAD COLBY
We enable the computer makers to make choice those two desktop options.
DAN LEACH
we
sat there
smoking
cigarettes
at
5
in the morning.
CHARLES BUKOWSKI
So, tomorrow, I'm leaving. And I'm not going to let that happen again with anyone else. I'm going to...
STEPHEN CHBOSKY
Are shadows a shadowy reflection of the soul or is it a reflection of who we really are, or possibly...
GARY F EVANS...
We are this fucking stick in the end...
DEYTH BANGER
When We have Patience in our minds and Love in our hearts, Nothing appears to be impossible or unrea...
PHILIP T.M
If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from th...
LANCE ARMSTRONG
If we're honest, most of us are doing okay.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
Sometimes there won’t be a right choice, just the best of several bad options.
SARAH J. MAAS
Orion is above the horizon now, and near it Jupiter, brighter than it will ever be ... But i expect ...
THOMAS HARRIS
Sometimes we can choose the paths we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we...
NEIL GAIMAN
We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options.
DAVID SUZUKI
We are still exploring the options and it is the government which will have a final say on this. I h...
GUO SHUQING
I can just deal with the options that are available to me, and these are the options. Do I like them...
MIKE SHERMAN
Everyone is the Umbrella Man and he is everyone. Every cough, sneeze, smile and wave means both ever...
CRAIG CLEVENGER
We have a choice. We have two options as human beings. We have a choice between conversation and war...
SAM HARRIS
Empathy is a bridge. Our sufferings connect us. Let pain make you softer.
AKIROQ BROST
Outside... we are just nobody... you could meet me outside... but it doesn't mean that I am DeYtH Ba...
DEYTH BANGER
Come on... come on... I am waiting for answer...
...

Silence doesn't make it... bet...
DEYTH BANGER
What, the glass is half-full instead of half-empty? Bullshit. What they don't tell you is that regar...
T.J. KLUNE
Wittgenstein likes to assert: "Whereof we cannot speak we must be silent". But skilfully using our h...
ERIK PEVERNAGIE
When we die our deeds shall be left for humanity to judge & our flesh shall become dust for humanity...
DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN)
To be angry is to yield to the influence of Satan. No one can make us angry. It is our choice. If we...
THOMAS S. MONSON
In the spirit of a Coyote Valley that is self-sustaining, we should be exploring some of these other...
LAUREL PREVETTI
We want a government that is for the Palestinian people, and if we can't do that, then there are man...
GHAZI HAMAD
The future belongs to all who, refusing to look back at the past move ahead with the clock as it tic...
ODO SIMON AGBO
If the seed doesn't get planted, it can't become a toxic thornbush. We must guard our minds and our ...
CRAIG GROESCHEL
If there's still a need for a runoff after the ballots are counted, we will consider our legal optio...
CHRISTY SETZER
What happens when hunters are doing all they can and it's still not enough? Are there other tools we...
CAL DUBROCK
Shawn had multiple options but this was our choice. We wanted to do the same thing we did when he si...
BRIAN MACKLER
In periods of rapid personal change, we pass through life as though we are spellcast. We speak in se...
DOUGLAS COUPLAND
There are good treatments options. We can make a difference.
DR. BRETT WHYTE
How we treat people is always our choice, and if we choose not to be respectful, it can come back to...
ALISON LEVINE
We are not defined by our trials, but by how we face them. We are all afraid; bravery is a choice, t...
JILL ANZINGER
I need resolution, because there are other options. We need to act on those options — out of town.
JEFFREY LORIA
I'm already gone. I died that night on the side of that road with my sister.
TRISHA LEAVER
Perfection isn't everything," she said as she turned and walked away. "I think the flaws are what ma...
TRISHA LEAVER
With her I'd buried myself, every memory of who I was now, six feet under with the sister I'd put th...
TRISHA LEAVER
We hate Simple Minds. They were no.1 in our Top Five Bands or Musicians who will have to be shot com...
NICK HORNBY
We have analyzed all of our options for alternative crude supplies and we are confident that our alt...
JEFF MORRIS
We talked about our options . . . It was clear that teachers and staff in this district felt we have...
LISA UPHOFF
How is Life Full of Choices? When we eat too much, we make a choice to be overweight. When we drink ...
SHIV KHERA
This gives us a range of things we could do. Some of that is pretty big dollar amounts. The next ste...
CHUCK ARMOR
Convinced that we're living the whole time that we're dying.
We decide to go out walking the wh...
TEGAN QUIN
An Error is like Salt and A 'Sincere' Apology is like Water and a ''Repeated Same Error'' is like a ...
ANUROOP TYAGI
We haven't closed our doors to other options. We've got stability, for now, and it gives us time to ...
RANDY SIMMONS
Weirdly enough, the more we give away, the richer we become.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
It is decision time, and we need to begin to narrow down our options . . . and make what may be some...
DAVID PRICE
But I don’t want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.'Oh, you can’t help that,' said the Cat...
LEWIS CARROLL
In every passing moment that is not appreciated time cannot give it back to you. So in moments of id...
GARY F EVANS...
Even if we don't want to admit it, the ability to overcome most obstacles is within our hands. We ca...
MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI
We are far from perfect but willing to be different.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
Choice of aim is clearly a matter of clarification of values, especially on the choice between possi...
W. EDWARDS DEMING
We want the company to come into our county and provide the best level of service at the lowest cost...
BRIAN MOURA
The choice to make good choices is the best choice you can choose. Fail to make that choice and on m...
RYAN LILLY
Having accessible options restricts us from utilizing what we have exhaustively
JACINTA MPALYENKANA
A lot of what we are hearing tonight are options, and we can do without them. I'd rather see the mon...
DAVE NEAL
It is a sad commentary that today we face a choice between having schools that are a monument to our...
TED KULONGOSKI
We explain the different options and features that are available. We tell them about deals for famil...
JACKIE TUCKER
When we begin to realize that we are the co-creators of our lives, we begin to understand the incorp...
LINDA MCCORD
It is not unreasonable for us to desire some options. Some Europeans, I know, believe it is necessar...
HENRY KISSINGER
Like we always said, all options are available in regards to our offer.
MICHAEL GRABICKI
Life is what it is. We are not the ones who designed it, but we sure can color it in the hues that w...
MARIE-SUZANNE LABELLE (A.K.A MARIE-SUE)
The first questions to be asked and answered in every contingency of life being: How will this thoug...
ALDOUS HUXLEY
Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhap...
ECKHART TOLLE
If you were stranded on an island, and had the choice of something to have what would it be? The cho...
AVIS JOHN
As Americans, we can choose where we work and live, what we drive, which insurance plan is best for ...
JOHN DOOLITTLE
If there is any prospect of defeating the insurgency, ... we need to make clear to the Iraqis that i...
CARL LEVIN
These are numbers we can hang our hats on and will help us when we discuss options using this proced...
HUGH CALKINS
Our goal is to make it easy for our visitors to discover some of the best of what's available, ... T...
BILL WILSON
HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice. They are living proof that when more options...
BETSY DEVOS
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
We're all in this together. You are not alone. All lines and divisions are artificial. We are one. W...
AKIROQ BROST
[A:] We give our customers all their financing options, ... In the end, they make an educated decisi...
AMY CLARK
If every time we choose a turd, society, at a great expense, simply allows us to redeem it for a pep...
TOM ROBBINS
We are responsible for ourselves and each other.
RODEL NATIVIDAD CASIO
We will continue to consider all available options to us in order to protect the rights of Sovereign...
PETER LANGERMAN
If we misread the blueprint of our life, we need not be ashamed of backtracking on our chosen option...
ERIK PEVERNAGIE
We are considering our options.
PETER PAN

More Sheena Iyengar

I could wear makeup today, and one person would say it looks bland, another would say it looks fake,...
SHEENA IYENGAR
As we get older, we get better at choosing in ways that will make us happy. We do a better job at pi...
SHEENA IYENGAR
Balancing hopes, desires and an appreciating of the possibilities with a clear-eyed assessment of th...
SHEENA IYENGAR
In America we tell our parents to bring their child home and put him or her in a crib; as they get o...
SHEENA IYENGAR
Choice is more than picking 'x' over 'y.' It is a responsibility to separate the mea...
SHEENA IYENGAR
Life hands us a lot of hard choices, and other people can help us more than we might realize. We oft...
SHEENA IYENGAR
When you're choosing furniture for your home that's supposed to express who you are, what yo...
SHEENA IYENGAR
We are sculptors finding ourselves in the evolution of choosing, not in the results of choice.
SHEENA IYENGAR
Too many choices can overwhelm us and cause us to not choose at all. For businesses, this means that...
SHEENA IYENGAR
For animals, the confinement of the body is the confinement of the whole being, but a person can cho...
SHEENA IYENGAR
He who has learnt to control his tongue has attained self-control in a great measure. When such a pe...
B.K.S. IYENGAR
The art of teaching is tolerance. Humbleness is the art of learning.
B.K.S. IYENGAR
Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.
B.K.S. IYENGAR
But it is the yogic path to be introspective, and to be the best person one can be.
S. IYENGAR
It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intell...
B.K.S. IYENGAR
Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is mor...
B.K.S. IYENGAR
Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are ...
B.K.S. IYENGAR
One's spiritual realization lies in none other than how one walks among and interacts with one's fel...
B.K.S. IYENGAR
Spirituality is not some external goal that one must seek, but a part of the divine core of each of ...
B.K.S. IYENGAR
Do not aim low, you will miss the mark. Aim high and you will be on a threshold of bliss.
B.K.S. IYENGAR
Nothing can be forced, receptivity is everything.
B.K.S. IYENGAR
Yoga allows you to find a new kind of freedom that you may not have known even existed.
B.K.S. IYENGAR
Breath is the king of mind.
B.K.S. IYENGAR
I would make tea for Joni Mitchell or clean her car, anything to be in the studio and watch her work...
SHEENA EASTON
I wouldn't consciously pursue trying to make something for the charts. It's just not in my s...
SHEENA EASTON
I'd love to a duet with Luther Vandross.
SHEENA EASTON
It's nice to have been around long enough to be a part of people's lives. A lot of people wh...
SHEENA EASTON
It's very validating when you are new in the industry to get awards. It boosts your self-esteem.
SHEENA EASTON
The whole world has changed much since the '80's. In the united States, rap music and countr...
SHEENA EASTON
When you're single and in your 20s, you throw on a pair of jeans and look fabulous.
SHEENA EASTON
Prince used to call me up 3am in the morning and invite me to hear some of his new songs.
SHEENA EASTON
If I was still at school, I'd be looking at Britney Spears and dying to be her.
SHEENA EASTON
If I have no children what would be the point of living.
SHEENA EASTON
I'm just passionately in love with my kids.
SHEENA EASTON
I'm definitely a pop artist at heart.
SHEENA EASTON
I'm a terrible dancer. The worst.
SHEENA EASTON
I have lived in the United States for half of my life, my entire adult life.
SHEENA EASTON
Even though I pretty much made my own decisions early on, when I was younger I tended to overbook my...
SHEENA EASTON
I used to think I had to stay frozen in time. No amount of Botox will keep up.
SHEENA EASTON
My mother has never been involved in my professional life. I am very close to my mother but we keep ...
SHEENA EASTON
I'm terrible at relationships. I consider myself to be smart and a good mother but it's take...
SHEENA EASTON
Even if your job is a professional singer, we still dork out at home.
SHEENA EASTON
My sole focus as far back as I can remember was all about my dream to become a singer.
SHEENA EASTON
When I was working with David Cassidy at the Rio, I made an album of updated versions of some 1970s ...
SHEENA EASTON
When my kids are in college, maybe I'll drag my fishnets and high heels out.
SHEENA EASTON
Disco is just pop music you can dance to.
SHEENA EASTON
Every time I show up to do something here it's considered a comeback. If I came into town and th...
SHEENA EASTON
Proving I'm a good mother is the one achievement I'm most proud of. It's brought out the...
SHEENA EASTON
We are supposed to enjoy the good stuff now, while we can, with the people we love. Life has a funny...
SHEENA EASTON
The Durum Growers had the idea, but it covers just about the entire spectrum. The association is rea...
SHEENA JOHNSON
Hopefully I can break the Mercer County scoring record. I need to get better with my outside game. U...
SHEENA ADEN
I definitely feel honored. Two years in a row ... I didn't think I'd get it. It's real nice. I've tr...
SHEENA ADEN
Our ball pressure was very good and we rebounded well. I wouldn't say we played a great game, becaus...
SHEENA ADEN
I just have that mindset. I have to get my share of points and have to make sure the others get thei...
SHEENA ADEN
We really picked it up in the second half. They were boxing (box-and-one defense) me, so we knew if ...
SHEENA ADEN
Dad yelled pretty loud at halftime. It was intense.
SHEENA ADEN
We knew Julia was capable of that all along. She's a good player, a good ball-handler and a good tea...
SHEENA KUNTZSCH
I think it was nice to get a break and to be able to rest. It was good to come back and not feel com...
SHEENA KUNTZSCH
I'm not disappointed in our effort. Everyone came ready to play, and everyone gave their best effort...
SHEENA KUNTZSCH
I may have lost my parents, but I think you lost more than that… you lost yourself
SHEENA HUTCHINSON
You’ve said life is a series of choices, but I think it’s also a series of opportunities, a seri...
SHEENA HUTCHINSON
Any time I have to get on a plane and leave my kids for a few days, it's kind of tortuous.
SHEENA EASTON