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The 70 Best Sentences of Emotional Intelligence

The 70 Best Sentences of Emotional Intelligence

March 29, 2024

Emotional Intelligence (EI), is a concept that emerged in the 80s thanks to the psychologist Daniel Goleman, the figure that popularized this concept. This type of intelligence is understood as the ability to identify, understand and regulate one's own emotions and those of others .

During the last three decades, many studies have shown that being emotionally intelligent means enjoying greater mental health and better performance, and that is why it is applied in clinical and therapeutic settings as well as in the workplace, education or sports.

The importance of being emotionally intelligent

But, why is it important to be emotionally intelligent? What are the benefits of EI? Emotional Intelligence improves our quality of life and our performance thanks to:


  • It allows us to know ourselves better . Self-knowledge is key to our self-esteem and self-confidence.
  • It helps us make better decisions. It allows us to think better and control our emotions so as not to get carried away by impulses.
  • We surrender more at work . It is key to improve the productivity of employees, their occupational health and improve relationships with customers.
  • It reduces stress and protects us against it. Good emotional management and how to interpret events is beneficial in reducing stress.
  • Promotes interpersonal relationships . The understanding of our emotions and those of others and the regulation of our behavior is key when it comes to relating with other individuals.
  • It allows to grow . Emotional Intelligence is a tool used by personal development professionals.
  • It favors the psychological well-being . Knowledge about our emotions and that of others helps us to know better what happens to us and how we relate to other people. Consequently, it improves our emotional health.
  • Increase motivation and help achieve goals. Self-knowledge helps us overcome difficult moments and allows us to know what we really like.

Phrases to learn Emotional Intelligence

If you are interested in knowing more about this concept. Then we present you 70 phrases to learn to be emotionally intelligent .


  • Related article: "The 30 best phrases of Daniel Goleman"

1. Anger, resentment and jealousy do not change the hearts of others, just change yours (Shannon L. Alder)

The only person who is affected negatively by jealousy and resentment is yourself, because it causes you resentment.

2. What really matters for success, character, happiness and vital achievements is a defined set of social skills, not just cognitive abilities, which are measured by conventional IQ tests (Daniel Goleman)

Daniel Goleman explains the importance of Emotional Intelligence when developing tools to be successful in life.

3. An emotion does not cause pain. The resistance or suppression of an emotion causes pain (Frederick Dodson)

When we accept emotions as they are, our level of anxiety and emotional stress drops. This is the path to personal well-being.


4. It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of the heart over the head, it is the intersection of both (David Caruso)

Emotional Intelligence is not the opposite of the intellectual quotient, but complements it.

5. As human beings, we all want to be happy and be free from misfortune, we have all learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as hatred, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion are the sources of peace and happiness (Dalai Lama)

Regulating our own emotions is beneficial to achieve our happiness and inner peace, says the Dalai Lama.

6. In the last decade, science has discovered the role that emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than the IQ, emotional awareness and ability to control feelings, will determine our success and happiness in all areas of life, including family relationships (John Gottman)

Success in life has a lot to do with the domain of Emotional Intelligence . Poor knowledge of emotions and poor regulation negatively affects our well-being and our performance.

7. We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are, that is a fact (Jean Paul Sartre)

We decide what we do and how we do it. We own our behavior.

8. It is not about erasing the negative emotions that certain events can cause us, but about reducing their intensity (Jonathan García-Allen)

The emotions are there and you have to accept them. Not accepting them means increasing our level of intensity.

9.When I say controlling emotions, I mean really stressful and disabling emotions. Feeling emotions is what makes our life rich (Daniel Goleman)

It is not necessary to avoid emotions, but accept them as they are, because they are part of life.

10. Use pain as a rock in your path, not as a camping area (Alan Cohen)

We can not avoid the facts that cause us pain, but we can avoid staying in that negative circle that causes us pain.

11. The nervous system and hormonal responses of hostile people are a path to disease and death (Redford Williams)

Constantly reliving negative emotions causes our physical and mental health to be adversely affected.

12. Change your attention and you will change your emotions. Change your emotion and your attention will change place (Frederick Dodson)

We have the possibility to decide which path we follow with emotions, if we let them affect us or accept them.

13. Do not forget that small emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it (Vincent Van Gogh)

Emotions influence our life in three ways : physiological, cognitive, behavioral.

14. Emotional intelligence is a way of recognizing, understanding and choosing how we think, feel and act. It forms our interactions with other people and our own understanding. It defines how and why we learn; it allows us to establish priorities; determines the majority of our daily actions. Research suggests that it determines at least 80% of success in our lives (J. Freedman)

A large part of our success is due to how we manage our relationships and how we handle our interpersonal relationships.

15. Emotions are contagious. We all know it from experience. After a good coffee with a friend, you feel good. When you are touched by a badly educated receptionist in a store, you leave feeling bad (Daniel Goleman).

External stimuli provoke positive and negative emotions. For example, after running we feel very good.

16. Be aware that at this moment you are creating. You are creating your next moment based on what you feel and think. That is what is real (Doc Childre)

We are creators of our life. We interpret what happens to us and make decisions about what to do and how to do it.

17. Trust, like art, never comes from having all the answers, but from being open to all questions (Earl Gray Stevens)

Self-confidence is conditioned by how we relate to events . If we let ourselves be carried away by them, it will descend. If we see them from a positive perspective, we may have a high confidence in ourselves.

18. Will is the intention favored by emotions (Raheel Farooq)

Emotional management requires willingness, it is not easy to regulate emotions.

19. We must be aware that what causes us discomfort or anxiety are not the events, but how we link the emotions to these (Jonathan García-Allen)

Thanks to Emotional Intelligence we can master our relationship with events.

20. True compassion does not mean just feeling the pain of another person, but being motivated to eliminate it (Daniel Goleman)

Compassion is one of the best ways to improve our mental and emotional well-being.

21. It is surprising how once the mind is free from emotional contamination, logic and clarity emerge (Clyde DeSouza)

Negative emotions cloud our mind and provoke a negative behavior that harms our emotional health.

22. Guilt, shame and fear are the immediate motives of deception (Daniel Goleman)

When we do not accept negative emotions, shame and fear arise.

23. We plant seeds that bloom in our lives, therefore, eliminate those of hatred, greed, envy and doubt (Dorothy Day)

We must eliminate hatred and greed and other harmful emotions not only for others, but also for ourselves.

24. I believe that the next decade we will see well-conducted research that demonstrates that emotional skills and competencies predict positive outcomes at home, at school and at work. The real challenge is to show that Emotional Intelligence matters more than psychological constructs that have been measured over decades, such as personality or IQ (Peter Salovey).

The Emotional Intelligence has been undervalued and ignored for a long time, giving more importance to not so important constructs.

25. Emotional education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper and your self-esteem (Robert Frost)

When we are emotionally intelligent people, we do not let events dominate us.

26. That's what happens with the lessons, you always learn from them, even when you do not want to (Cecelia Ahern)

Negative situations are to learn not to repeat them.

27. It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of another person's life perfectly

Perfectionism causes many emotional health problems.

28. The ability to express one's feelings constitutes a fundamental social skill (Daniel Goleman)

In order to relate to others appropriately we must have the ability to master our own emotions.

29. The best index of a person's character is the way he treats people who can not do any good, and the way he treats people who can not defend themselves (Abigail Van Buren)

Being respectful and honest are some of the best virtues of the human being.

30. We live in a society that does not educate us to be emotionally intelligent people (Daniel Goleman)

Unfortunately, society does not pay attention in emotional education .

31. Every emotion has its place, but it must not interfere with the proper action (Susan Oakey-Baker)

Emotions must be accepted, not avoided.

32. Talent is an important part of achieving success. However, there are other factors that keep us alive during difficult times (anonymous)

Emotional Intelligence helps us come out in difficult times

33. Do not be afraid of your fears. They are not there to scare you. They are there to let you know that something is worth it (JoyBell)

Fears have to be accepted and then faced

34. In a very real sense we have two minds, one that thinks and feels (Daniel Goleman)

Goleman talking about reason and emotions.

35. Our ability to adapt is incredible. Our ability to change is spectacular (Lisa Lutz)

People can learn emotional intelligence and adapt better to the environment.

36.The emotional brain responds to an event more quickly than the rational brain (Daniel Goleman)

Emotions happen faster than reasoning.

37. Happiness is not the absence of problems, it is the ability to deal with them (Anonymous)

The problems exist, so you have to face them.

38. The only way to change someone's mind is to connect with her through the heart (Rasheed Ogunlaruuinca)

You have to connect yourself and live in the present moment to be happy.

39. An intelligent person can rationalize anything, a wise person does not even try (Jen Knox)

Over the years you realize that you have to take iron out of the matter.

40. If you fight against yourself to discover your true self, you will discover that there is only one winner (Stephen Richards)

A phrase that invites deep reflection.

41. Western businessmen often do not realize the importance of establishing human relationships (Daniel Goleman)

The society in which we live has undergone a great change in the way people relate to us.

42. If you want to be happy, you must resign yourself to seeing others happy (Bertrand Russell)

Happiness is born of oneself, not from external sources.

43. We forget very easily what causes us pain (Graham Green)

We struggle to overcome the painful, but it is necessary to live happily.

44. I do not care what you say to me. I care what you share with me (Santosh Kalwar)

An appointment that talks about sharing with another person.

45. Because politicians never believe what they say, they are surprised when someone does (Charles de Gaulle)

Politicians often live pending to seduce others.

46. ​​Emotional intelligence determines our success in life (Daniel Goleman)

If we want to be successful in life, we have to be emotionally intelligent.

47. One must learn to control his emotions if he does not want to be frowned upon by others (anonymous)

We can not do what we want if we want to get along with other people.

48. Emotions must be controlled, if we want to live in harmony with others (anonymous)

Emotional regulation is vital when we live surrounded by other people.

49. I was so busy writing the criticism that I could never stop to look at myself (Groucho Marx)

If you have high self-confidence you do not care about the criticism of others.

50. One must know oneself to relate successfully to others (anonymous)

Self-knowledge is necessary if we want to have healthy interpersonal relationships.

51. Our attitude toward life determines your attitude towards us (John N. Mitchell)

An interesting reflection that is motivating.

52. The good life is inspired by love and guiafa by knowledge (Bertrand Russell)

A reflection that It combines passions and rationality .

53. Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts (Søren Kierkegaard)

The Danish philosopher related our way of life to those ideas and fundamental principles that lead our way of thinking.

54. Chaos is rejecting everything you've learned. Chaos is being yourself (Emil Cioran)

The philosopher Cioran believed that identity constructed through learning is something futile and banal.

55. Every man is a creature of the time in which he lives (Voltaire)

Voltaire believed that we can not consider ourselves beings independent of the historical context that we have to live. Our ideas and our way of life are always conditioned by the date of our birth.

56. We are what we do repeatedly (Aristotle)

Aristotle distanced himself from Plato's idealism: for him the facts and the environment matter more, and this is clear in this phrase of eminently philosophical life.

57. The things we love tell us who we are (Thomas Aquinas)

This important philosopher found in love one of the defining facts of the person.

58. Life is a tragedy picture is seen in the foreground, but in general shot becomes a comedy (Charlie Chaplin)

Chaplin, as a film director, knew that the same event, or even the life of a person, changes depending on the way in which it is presented.

59. You always admire what is not really understood (Blaise Pascal)

This philosopher talks about the long range of curiosity in our lives.

60. Man is the only creature that refuses to be who he is (Albert Camus)

Albert Camus, in one of his philosophical statements about the struggle that the human being maintains with the creation of a meaning for his existence.

61. The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook (William James)

This is one of the phrases of one of the references in the history of psychology.

62. Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens (Jimi Hendrix)

Hendrix, on an important differentiating nuance.

63. What is proven once could only be imagined (William Blake)

This quote refers to the perspective with which we should take what seems impossible.

64. Only the educated are free (Epictetus)

Education as an engine of freedom and autonomy.

65. There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love (Bryant H. McGill)

A whiting that bites its tail.

66. What is pride? A rocket that emulates the stars (William Wordsworth)

One of the phrases of Emotional Intelligence that speaks of the paradox of pride: it can be a weakness and, at the same time, move to improve .

67. In the face of success, attitude is as important as skill (Walter Scott)

A phrase that highlights two great assets of the personality.

68. It takes a long time to become young (Pablo Picasso)

This great artist created a curious paradox about age.

69. Excellence is not an ability, it's an attitude (Ralph Marston)

An inspiring phrase that invites you to live life with decision .

70. Freedom is never given; it is always won (Asa Philip Randolph)

In line with the previous reflection, this leads us to consider what we do to gain sovereignty over our own lives.


The Power of Emotional Intelligence | Travis Bradberry | TEDxUCIrvine (March 2024).


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