Prather, H.
(1986).
Notes on How to Live in the World (and Still Be Happy).
"Thinking that appearances are everything, the ego naturally concludes that 'you are what you do.' During our middle span of life the seemingly affable question 'What do you do?' really means 'Are you somebody?' and most of us think far too much about how to word our answer should some stranger at a party ask us this question, even though if we just took a moment to look at our feelings we would see that we really don't care what a stranger thinks of us. It is only our ego that attempts to judge, and being quite blind, all it can see is other egos. This common social line of attack and counterattack has so very little to do with what people are at their core that you would think it would be self-evident that a person's means of earning a living reveals only the most superficial and insignificant information about what he or she is, and yet the issue of career has become a source of great unhappiness." (p. 115)
Goffman, E.
(1986).
Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity.
"That which can be told about an individual's social identity at all times during his daily round and by all persons he encounters therein will be of great importance to him. The consequence of a presentation that is perforce made to the public at large may be small in particular contacts, but in every contact there will be some consequences, which, when taken together, can be immense. Further, routinely available information about him is the base from which he must begin when deciding what tack to take in regard to whatever stigma he possesses. Thus, any change in the way the individual must always and everywhere present himself will for these very reasons be fateful—this presumably providing the Greeks with the idea of stigma in the first place." (p. 48)
Nierenberg, G. I.
(1986).
The art of creative thinking.
"Probably the greatest deterrent to creative thinking is in not recognizing that...we have a problem that needs a solution. At the other extreme are the innately creative who recognize problems and enjoy the challenge and possible rewards of solving them. Most of us fall between the two extremes. We recognize the problem but are at a loss to make a creative leap that will bring a solution." (p. 159)