Emotions can either serve or enslave reason… it’s a powerful truth. It all comes down to whether we’re in the driver’s seat or just along for the ride.
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Meaning
The core message is simple but profound: your emotional state is the ultimate decider of whether your logical mind is your greatest asset or your biggest liability.
Explanation
Look, we’ve all been there. You get that flash of anger in a meeting and suddenly your brilliant, logical argument goes out the window—you’re just fighting. That’s the enslavement part. But when you understand that anger, when you can name it and feel it without letting it hijack you? That’s when it serves you. It fuels your passion, it sharpens your focus. It becomes data. The key isn’t to eliminate emotion; it’s to build a partnership with it. To make reason and emotion collaborate instead of compete.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (4111) |
| Category | Wisdom (465) |
| Topics | emotion general (116), reason (8), self awareness (62) |
| Literary Style | philosophical (482) |
| Emotion / Mood | reflective (420), serious (175) |
| Overall Quote Score | 81 (267) |
Origin & Factcheck
This is straight from Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence, which really kicked off this whole EQ conversation in the United States. You sometimes see similar sentiments misattributed to ancient philosophers, but this specific, modern framing is 100% Goleman.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Dr Daniel Goleman (50) |
| Source Type | Book (4624) |
| Source/Book Name | Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (54) |
| Origin Timeperiod | Contemporary (1765) |
| Original Language | English (4111) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4624) |
Author Bio
Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and bestselling author whose journalism at The New York Times brought brain and behavior science to a wide audience. He earned a BA from Amherst and a PhD in psychology from Harvard, and studied in India on a Harvard fellowship. Goleman’s research and writing helped mainstream emotional intelligence, leadership competencies, attention, and contemplative science. He co-founded CASEL and a leading research consortium on EI at work. The Daniel Goleman book list includes Emotional Intelligence, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Primal Leadership, Social Intelligence, Focus, and Altered Traits.
| Official Website
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | Emotions can either serve or enslave reason, depending on how well we understand them |
| Book Details | Publication Year: 1995; ISBN: 978-0553375060; Last edition: 2005; Number of pages: 352 |
| Where is it? | Chapter: The Emotional Brain, Approximate page 33 from 2005 edition |