I had abandoned Catholicism, but even during my short militant atheist period I maintained an interest in western religious art and music.

Catholicism is the most philosophical branch of Christianity.

Taken as hypotheses, religious claims do very badly. Yet the striking fact is that this does not worry Christians.

One philosophically fascinating aspect of Catholicism is the very strange conception of reality it presents (the incarnation, the eucharist, judgement day etc.).

I do think that philosophy and science are very different intellectual enterprises, but that does not mean that when we get knowledge from philosophy it is a different kind of knowledge.

I have a general moral: great philosophers may be great, but that is not a reason to follow them. Don't be a follower. Work it out for yourself.

Wine is not discovered but made: it is an artifact that can be appraised that can be appraised aesthetically

Since I don't believe in externalism, I don't think it can explain consciousness!

I like to think of myself as a naturalist - insofar as that term is at all clear.

Unlike art which contains a message, wine conveys nothing, it has no intellectual or cognitive content

The wine itself has aesthetic value; but what it is for a wine to have aesthetic value cannot be understood without making reference to the experience to tasting it

Suicide is not a choice, it is what is left when everything else fails.

Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.

Beauty, pleasure, freedom and plenty of sleep: these are the hallmarks of a successful idler's break. Travel should not be hard work.

I've never been that much of a money guy. I'm more of a film guy, and most of the money I've made is in defense of trying to keep creative control of my movies.

Self-imposed limits on sovereign power can disarm mistrust, but provide no guarantee of liberty and property beyond those afforded by the balance between state and private force.

The peril of this Nation is not in any foreign foe! We, the people, are its power, its peril, and its hope.

Not to sound too pathetic, but there have been long stretches where I haven't been able to get a job.

The world is an inherently unfair place.

It would be no reproach to a philosopher, that he knew the future better than the past, or even than the present. It is better worth knowing.

Another world is possible, without the 1 percent.