I'm very interested in why we do good things, or bad things, and where moral judgments come from.

Families survive the terrible twos because toddlers aren't strong enough to kill with their hands and aren't capable of using lethal weapons.

Philosophers have often looked for the defining feature of humans — language, rationality, culture, and so on. I'd stick with this: Man is the only animal that likes Tabasco sauce.

Our best hope for the future [...] lies in an appreciation of the fact that, even if we don’t empathize with distant strangers, their lives have the same value as the lives of those we love.

A religion such as Judaism or Catholicism might survive even if it comes to reject a literal account of God creating man and animals. But it cannot survive the rejection of an immaterial soul.

I argue that we should be kind, we should be compassionate, and we should definitely be reasonable and rational, but that empathy leads us astray.

The fact that something can be used for good isn't necessarily a knockdown argument for it.

Empathy zooms you in on an individual and, as a result, it's narrow, it's innumerate, it's racist, it's very biased.

The effects of Twitter and Facebook and all those things on people's psychologies is a really interesting question to which nobody knows the answer.

I love teaching. I wouldn't take a job that didn't include it.

What I mean by "empathy" is putting yourself in other people's shoes, feeling what they feel.

A world without pain, loss, betrayal, hate, death, loneliness? Impossible!

A moment of reserve. "That was it? The whole story?""Yes. God, you're right. That was pants."I sidestep another aggressive couscous vendor. "Pants?""Rubbish. Crap. S

Flirting is the gentle art of making a man feel pleased with himself.

I'm just writing love songs. I'm not trying to be pop. I'm not trying to be jazz. I'm not trying to be anything. I'm just writing love songs. And everyone loves a love song.

Nobleness was one word for making a fuss about the trivial inevitabilities of life, but there were others.

It is unfortunate that the poor judgment shown by a small group of young actors has tarnished the reputation of every child who has ever appeared before a camera.

You'll fold faster than Superman on laundry day

The church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought.

I would have been a disastrous soldier.

It is better to be silent, than to dispute with the Ignorant.