My thesis is that morality exists outside the human mind in the sense of being not just a trait of individual humans, but a human trait; that is, a human universal.

Science is not a thing. It's a verb. It's a way of thinking about things. It's a way of looking for natural explanations for all phenomena.

The recent medical controversy over whether vaccinations cause autism reveals a habit of human cognition — thinking anecdotally comes naturally, whereas thinking scientifically does not.

Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.

I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know. How can we tell the difference between what we would like to be true and what is actually true? The answer is science.

Religious faith depends on a host of social, psychological and emotional factors that have little or nothing to do with probabilities, evidence and logic.

Humans are, by nature, pattern-seeking, storytelling animals, and we are quite adept at telling stories about patterns whether they exist or not.

But the power of science lies in open publication, which, with the rise of the Internet, is no longer constrained by the price of paper.

I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know.

In comparison, Google is brilliant because it uses an algorithm that ranks Web pages by the number of links to them, with those links themselves valued by the number of links to their page of origin.

Either the soul survives death or it does not, and there is no scientific evidence that it does.

Whether voting Republican or Democrat, the result is the same: A corrupt corporate government.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience.

The people who live in the past must yield to the people who live in the future. Otherwise the world would begin to turn the other way round.

I see a little progress, ... So as long as I keep seeing that, then I'm willing to give him everything I've got.

All you have to do is to look like crap on film and everyone thinks you're a brilliant actress. Actually, all you've done is look like crap.

He who has no inclination to learn more will be very apt to think that he knows enough.

When I started auditioning, I'd take any audition I could get. The more dramatic ones didn't go as well as the comedic.

The secret known to two is no longer a secret.

I never do anything I don't want to do. Nor does anyone, but in my case I am always aware of it.

What luxury would I take to a desert island? A mirror. It's true. I'd miss me.