How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The world was peopled with minds, whirling faster than any wind, in search of distraction and escape from the predicament of change, the dilemma of life and death—seeking purpose, security, enjoyment, trying to make sense of the mystery. Everyone everywhere lived a confused, bitter search. Reality never matched their dreams, happiness was just around the corner—a corner they never turned.
And the source of it all was the human mind. (1.107-108)
This revelation, from one of the visions Socrates gives Dan, looks at all the unhappiness in the world and says the human mind is to blame. Unlike, say, Atlas Shrugged, this book is 10,000,000,000% against the mind.
Quote #2
“Your "upset" at the ruined picnic and your "happiness" when the sun reappeared were the product of your thoughts. They had nothing to do with the actual events. Haven't you been "unhappy" at celebrations for example? It is obvious then that your mind, not other people or your surroundings, is the source of your moods.” (2.71)
Once again, the mind is to blame—this time for moods that are seemingly the result of changes outside Dan, such as the weather. Bad mind! Bad! No treat!
Quote #3
All these years I had been sustained by an illusion—happiness through victory—and now that illusion was burned to ashes. I was no happier, no more fulfilled, for all my achievements. [...] I saw that I had never learned how to enjoy life, only how to achieve. All my life I had been busy seeking happiness, not finding it. (5.196-197)
Achievements and victories don't bring happiness, in other words. This book is completely insistent upon that point.