Paraphrasing Plato's Republic: "Only people who have allowed themselves to be reformed by reality have it in themselves to reform their polis for the better.

Plato worried that philosophical writing would take the place of living conversations for which, in philosophy, there is no substitute.

Thinking is the soul speaking to itself.

The good polis is made by the good person, his moral character intact, and the good polis, in turn, helps turn out good persons, their moral character intact.

If we don't understand our tools, then there is a danger we will become the tool of our tools. We think of ourselves as Google's customers, but really we're its products.

I have a Greek-American friend who named her daughter "Nike" and is often asked why she chose to name her offspring after a sneaker.

Plato dramatically puts the detachment of the philosopher from his time this way: to philosophize is to prepare to die.

What is it precisely, that they are doing when they are doing science. Are they refining their instruments for observation or discovering new aspects of reality?

This is the pedagogical paradox. The person and the teacher is required precisely because the knowledge itself is nontransferable from teacher to student.

Everybody makes excuses for themselves they wouldn't be prepared to make for other people.

How can those who possess all knowledge, which must include knowledge of life that is worth living, be interested in using knowledge only for the insignificant aim of making money?

It's always the mind that needs quietening and the heart that needs listening to.

It felt as though they were the only people in the world, two young women about to bury the symbol of their helplessness, as if that's all it would take to make them whole again.

The seeds of happiness can grow from one thought, one idea, one simple change in focus.

You've got to be in a position for luck to happen. Luck doesn't go around looking for a stumblebum.

Looks are temporary and don't mirror what's inside. And usually, a great looking man is so vain. Maybe most good-looking women are too. I hope I'm not!

Let's recreate the equivalent of the Met Ball in Europe and, rather than for the museum, give the money to environmental causes.

It's easier in an urban world to cast the blame outward. So I've learned a lot about my own process in that way.

Space and time are not objects of perception, but qualities of awareness

My dad is such a good man. You know how when you are a child you think your dad is invincible? Well, I still think that - he is so wise and everything I do I ask my dad's advice about first.

I'm not interested in doing something edgy with a capital E just so everyone knows, 'Oh, OK, now he's showing us he can do edgy.'