In times of crisis, we are better off being led by mentally ill leaders than by mentally normal ones.

The depressed person is mired in the past; the manic person is obsessed with the future. Both destroy the present in the process.

em means “into,” pathos is “suffering”—“into suffering.”

depressive realism hypothesis. This theory argues that depressed people aren’t depressed because they distort reality; they’re depressed because they see reality more clearly than other people do.

Our leaders cannot be perfect; they need not be perfect; their imperfections indeed may produce their greatness. The indelible smudges on their character may be signs of brilliant leadership.

In one study, severely depressed patients had much higher scores on empathy scales than a college student control group; the more depressed patients were, the higher their empathy scores.

For instance, he saw his natural shyness as encouraging spiritually useful silence. Similarly, he interpreted his introversion as reflecting the ascetic virtues of detachment from the material world.

They became different, and two-thirds of them said they’d changed for the better.

the researchers found that their unrealistically optimistic attitudes correlated with better psychological adjustment.