Julian Baggini Quotes
Atheists have to live with the knowledge that there is no salvation, no redemption, no second chances. Lives can go terribly wrong in ways that can never be put right.
Waiting is so unusual that many of us can't stand in a queue for 30 seconds without getting out our phones to check for messages or to Google something.
The greatest moral failing is to condemn something as a moral failing: no vice is worse than being judgmental.
I don't think anyone who genuinely embraced sincerity, charity and modesty could be intolerant or divisive.
You don't choose what you believe moment to moment, but choices you have made do shape what you come to believe.
Economics is uncertain because its fundamental subject matter is not money but human action. That's why economics is not the dismal science, it's no science at all.
Being able and willing to complain is what makes us rational and moral animals, capable of seeing and articulating the difference between how things are and how they should be.
Love is indeed at root the product of the firings of neurons and release of hormones.
It may not have the virtuous ring of the golden rule, but the maxim "never say never" is one of the most important in ethics.
Dover's cliffs call to mind the Roman invasion; the Battle of Britain; our proximity to, yet difference from, mainland Europe; and international trade and exploration, both fair and exploitative.
Happiness is not the same as life satisfaction, while neither are identical to what we might call flourishing.
Instead of showing strangers kindness and giving them the benefit of the doubt, we increasingly show them only fear, and that is bad for us and them.
The idea that the mind can extend even beyond the body is an intriguing one, and is bound to become more pressing as we increasingly develop technologies that augment our natural abilities.
No one who has understood even a fraction of what science has told us about the universe can fail to be in awe of both the cosmos and of science.
We can't control whether we are rewarded for our endeavours, with cash or recognition. It is not up to us how much cash or time we get on Earth, but it is down to us how we spend it.
Accepting that the world is full of uncertainty and ambiguity does not and should not stop people from being pretty sure about a lot of things.
Society needs both justice and compassion, a head and a heart, if it is to be civilised.
Trying to keep up with health advice can feel like surfing the Net for weather forecasts: what you find is always changing, often contradictory and rarely encouraging.
Untested assumptions and lazy habits of thought can be shown up, once put in a spotlight of a different hue.
No one has ever understood anything better by assuming that there is no reason for why it is the way it is.
From time to time, it is worth wandering around the fuzzy border regions of what you do, if only to remind yourself that no human activity is an island.
Progress is more of a challenge for the cynic but also more important and urgent, since for the optimist things aren't that bad and are bound to get better anyway.
The truly humble feel the ground beneath their feet every day and do not only become aware of it when held aloft or pushed down to their knees.
It's not leftovers that are wasteful, but those who either don't know what to do with them or can't be bothered.
Nature deals the cards without thought or care, and there is no point in blaming the dealer. All we can do is make the best of the hands we have been dealt.
In my experience, those who make the biggest fuss about not spending much at Christmas are generally the ones who buy what they want and eat where they want 12 months a year.
If philosophy is to be a valuable part of life, we have to appreciate it for its own sake, and not just for what it's done for us lately.
Most people believe, more or less, that the value of a human life is the same, irrespective of where on the planet it happens to find itself. But, of course, not every life has the same value for us.
Since Plato, we have been considering the nature of knowledge, the meaning of meaning and the status of the physical world.
Seek first what is true and of value, and then whatever happiness follows will be of the appropriate quantity and, more importantly, quality.
Any celebration meal to which guests are invited, be they family or friends, should be an occasion for generous hospitality.
Being a good neighbour is about compassion, which is as warm-blooded as justice is cool-headed.
Wellbeing is a notion that entails our values about the good life, and questions of values are not ultimately scientific questions.
Stress means something different if it is the result of rewarding work rather than struggling to keep the family out of debt.
We do wrong willfully when we fail to think hard about whether what we're doing is right.
People should not expect the state to protect them from fraudsters. If we do, we get into the habit of neglecting our own powers of intellectual discernment.
There is such a thing as fanaticism, it is always wrong, and if you disagree, you're wrong too.
There are many things you shouldn't measure. Don't, for example, try to measure how much you love your wife!
I don't feel proprietorial about the problems of philosophy. History has taught us that many philosophical issues can grow up, leave home and live elsewhere.
The very act of questioning whether you exist proves you do, because you must be there for the doubt to be entertained in the first place.
"That which does not kill me makes me stronger" is not a law of the universe. What it can be, if we so choose, is a resolution.
If you believe you are right, then you should believe that you can make the case that you're right. This requires you to deal with serious objections properly.
Life is full of what-ifs, many of which could easily have been realities, had just a few things been different.
As a teenager, I increasingly had questions about religion to which I found no good answers.
