Language is a window into human nature, but it is also a fistula, an open wound through which we're exposed to an infectious world.

Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language.

Why are empirical questions about how the mind works so weighted down with political and moral and emotional baggage?

All our behaviours are a result of neurophysiological activity in the brain. There is no reason to believe there is any magic going on.

I suspect music is auditory cheesecake, an exquisite confection crafted to tickle the sensitive spots of... our mental faculties.

Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture.

Thanks to the redundancy of language, yxx cxn xndxrstxnd whxt x xm wrxtxng xvxn xf x rxplxcx xll thx vxwxls wxth xn "x" (t gts lttl hrdr f y dn't vn kn whr th vwls r)

Photography is a kind of virtual reality, and it helps if you can create the illusion of being in an interesting world.

Plants can't very well defend themselves by their behavior, so they resort to chemical warfare, and plants are saturated with toxins and irritants to deter creatures like us who want to eat them.

I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift.

Babies are born with the instinct to speak, the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don't need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different.

Mediation on word of God leads to renewal of mind

Sometimes, we need to accept that life doesn’t always go the way we planned.

Stop settling for your fears and doubts. You absolutely don't have to be an expert in order to be confident with yourself and your abilities.

Tears don’t make you a girl, but they sure make you human.

I knew I was in England by the smell.

Figure a man's only good for one oath at a time. I took mine to the Confederate States of America.

According to Zen Buddhist cosmology there are ten thousand different states of mind to view and understand life through.

For this reason, if you believe proverbs, let me tell you the common one: "It is unlucky to marry in May.

Why stay with him, he uses you just like a human punching bag?

I remember when I got my first Adam Sandler CD and it was the funniest thing I'd ever heard in my entire life, and continues to be.