The great appeal of the doctrine that the mind is a blank slate is the simple mathematical fact that zero equals zero.

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.

No small art is it to sleep: it is necessary for that purpose to keep awake all day.

Don't you dare underestimate the power of your own instinct.

You need emotional content.

There is no writer's block in a newsroom. There's only unemployment block.

I am part of the cycle, rebirth death, rebirth death, rebirth death.

Art sometimes is as simple as nothing, and other times as mysterious as nature or a woman.

Eternal vigilance is the price of sexual confidence.

Avoiding the doctrine of Hell is one step away from denying it altogether.

The difference between gossip and philosophy lies only in one's way of taking a fact.

You can rise above it. This country gives you opportunity if you want to take it, so don't blame your environment. I look down on people who use their environment as a crutch.