Asking questions is what brains were born to do, at least when we were young children. For young children, quite literally, seeking explanations is as deeply rooted a drive as seeking food or water.

I'm afraid the parenting advice to come out of developmental psychology is very boring: pay attention to your kids and love them.

Because we imagine, we can have invention and technology. It's actually play, not necessity, that is the mother of invention.

What's it like to be a baby? It's like being in love in Paris for the first time after you've had three double espressos.

Adults often assume that most learning is the result of teaching and that exploratory, spontaneous learning is unusual. But actually, spontaneous learning is more fundamental.

The more obsessively we focus on what a particular food is going to do for us, the less healthy we've become. Simple pleasures become complicated.

The brain is highly structured, but it is also extremely flexible. It's not a blank slate, but it isn't written in stone, either.

Animals are certainly more sophisticated than we used to think. And we shouldn't lump together animals as a group. Crows and chimps and dogs are all highly intelligent in very different ways.

The largest and most powerful computers are still no match for the smallest and weakest humans.

Babies and young children are like the research and development division of the human species, and we grown-ups are production and marketing.

What teenagers want most of all are social rewards, especially the respect of their peers.

Every fear fades with faith.

No thanks…Dodo, was it? I don’t know if I can watch you have performance problems twice in ten days.

We were what seemed important then, not some label.

The thing about taking risks is, if it’s really a risk, you really can fail. It’s only a pretend risk if you really can’t fail.

The beloved is one who nurtures you, trusts you, supports you, encourages you, loves you without conditions. That's you.

Once you're dead, you're made for life.

You were Marlon Brando, I was Steve McQueen, you were K.Y. Jelly, I was Vaseline.

The cause of the spinning wheel is too great and too good to have to rest on mere hero-worship.

We are called to be contemplatives. ..by seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, everywhere, all the time.

You can't have Christ without the Church.