In ethics, we don't make progress by discovering pre-existent truths; we do so by solving problems.

It's a very bad idea for scientific conclusions to be accepted because they fit with the political values of a group of researchers.

I believe that the arts make indispensable contributions to our understanding.

I'm very suspicious of the idea of a "final theory" in natural science, and the thought of a complete system of ethical rules seems even more dubious.

Philosophers ought to aspire to know lots of different things and to forge useful synthetic perspectives.

It may be hyperbolic to declare that Shakespeare teaches us more about being human than all the natural scientists combined.

The "little theme" from Vinteuil, heard by Swann as emblematic of his love for Odette, remains a point of reference for him, as the character of that love changes and as the love eventually fades.

Science literacy consists in the ability and the desire to follow reports of new scientific advances, throughout your whole life.

The theory of evolution explains to us what our ancestry has been. It does not explain away our worth. Why should we be afraid to learn more about what we are?

The point of philosophy, as I see it, is to change thinking, and thereby to change the conversation.

I take the ethical truths to be the stable elements that emerge out of ethical progress and that are retained under further ethical progress.

Dreaming is easy. Creativity is a lot of work.

If we believe that murder is wrong and not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well.

The masks. that men have as faces, the outward shells they hold up for others to see while their minds shift in hidden directions. Discard 2

Like birds landing on a tree top together, and then dispersing, we are together for a very short time, so it makes sense to live in harmony, in unconditional friendship.

Those who are waiting for an epiphany to strike may wait forever. The artist simply goes to work, making art, both good and not so good.

So the patient went to the mountains, and do you know what? Next day a telegram arrived for the psychiatrist. The patient said in the telegram, 'I am feeling very happy - why?'

All art at some time and in some manner becomes mass entertainment, and if it does not it dies and is forgotten.

People would be in hysterics if they saw that. It's like, wow, he's a superhuman moron.... So he wears lipstick, has a little bouffant, and does little circus acts as well. Oh, he's so sexy.

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.