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

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.

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.

We will never have a perfect world, but it's not romantic or naive to work toward a better one.

Reading's not a luxury, art's not a luxury. It's about your soul, and it's about yourself. And if reading is a luxury, being human is a luxury

But one way or another competing and weeding takes place . . . or a race goes downhill.

Dice have their laws, which the courts of justice cannot undo.

I want to preach the gospel so plainly that men can come from the factories and not have to bring along a dictionary.

I know I began as a passion and have ended as a habit , like all husbands .

If there's a heaven, it's a cold place. A dark place. A lonely place.

Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself.

I just try and get the best out of an artist - we all have a responsibility to fill the world with awesome songs!

Your dreams are always going to seem much more profound to you then they are to your friend.

I attended college in Los Angeles and wore black pumps to work every day.