We are not conscious of most things until we ask ourselves questions about them.

What we find is that our brains have colossal things happening in them all the time.

Every atom in your body is the same quark in different places at the same moment in time.

Instead of reality being passively recorded by the brain, it is actively constructed by it.

As an undergraduate I majored in British and American literature at Rice University.

The first lesson about trusting your senses is: don't. Just because you believe something to be true, just because you know it's true, that doesn't mean it is true.

It turns out your conscious mind - the part you think of as you - is really the smallest part of what’s happening in your brain, and usually the last one in line to find out any information.

There is a looming chasm between what your brain knows and what your mind is capable of accessing.

You are more likely to believe that a statement is true if you have heard it before - whether or not it is actually true.

Love was not specified in the design of your brain; it is merely an endearing algorithm that freeloads on the leftover processing cycles.

We don't really understand most of what's happening in the cosmos. Is there any afterlife? Who knows.

If you want the best evidence of just how strong our democracy is, come into the courtroom.

That game gave us a lot of confidence and the fans something to cheer for.

Who does not recall school at least in part as endless dreary hours of boredom punctuated by moments of high anxiety?

Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day; Let other hours be set apart for business. To-day it is our pleasure to be drunk; And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.

A good saying often runs the risk of being thrown away when quoted as the speaker's own. [Fr., C'est souvent hasarder un bon mot et vouloir le perdre que de le donner pour sien.]

I've experienced a lot for someone my age that a lot of people will be able to relate to.

I think the worst woman that ever existed would have made a man of very passable reputation -- they are all better than us and their faults such as they are must originate with ourselves.

My basic political posture is "what a shame the human race did this to earth." What we have done environmentally, politically, culturally.

What's interesting about the movie and characters is that they're one thing to the world and another thing in their heads.

There isn't much room for an outsider point of view in print any more.