Aiming at giving our kids a competitive edge in a consumer society - that, in principle, is a goal that is limitless.

The way things are does not determine the way they ought to be

Self-knowledge is like lost innocence; however unsettling you find it, it can never be 'unthought' or 'unknown'.

The simplest way of understanding justice is giving people what they deserve. This idea goes back to Aristotle. The real difficulty begins with figuring out who deserves what and why.

Democracy does not require perfect equality, but it does require that citizens share in a common life.

To argue about justice is unavoidably to argue about virtues, about substantive moral and even spiritual questions.

Whether you're a libertarian liberal or a more egalitarian liberal, the idea is that justice means being non-judgmental with respect to the preferences people bring to public life.

I think too often in our society parents, who may have good impulses, overreach and try to mold and shape and direct their child.

You can't go wrong with fish and chips.

What intrigued me most was not the technology as such but the questions about the human goods, the fundamental human values and virtues that are raised by debates over biotechnology.

The most fateful change that unfolded during the past three decades was not an increase in greed. It was the expansion of markets, and of market values, into spheres of life where they don’t belong.

The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths.

[My father] taught me (at least he showed me) a dignified way to be a former president is that once you're off the stage, you're off the stage.

I hit the third rail. You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive.

Knocking the shrieking goblins aside like skittles

You work for whatever you get in life.

I have an eye for new and refreshing talent.

Wow. I'm humbled and I'm honored. To be in the International Boxing Hall of Fame with so many of my friends and heroes is overwhelming.

avarice is especially, I suppose, a disease of the imagination.

Philosophy is the education of grown-ups.