Many scholars have complained of our tendency to see history only in conflicts, but I am not convinced they are right. It is in conflict that our values are exposed.

The only thing binding individuals together is ideas. Ideas mutate and spread; they change their hosts as much as their hosts change them.

I try not to be surprised. Surprise is the public face of a mind that has been closed.

Thought, like any parasite, cannot exist without a compliant host.

A society that fears knowledge is a society that fears itself.

Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism.

... from our vantage point it is now clear that the only thing the population had to fear was fear itself.

Which came first, the mind or the idea of the mind? Have you never wondered? They arrived together. The mind is an idea.

In the end, living is defined by dying.

Unable to attribute misfortune to chance, unable to accept their ultimate insignificance within the greater scheme, the people looked for monsters in their midst.

Sometimes, even the very best course of action fails.

Do not fall in love.....it means you have to look at someone else.

First and foremost, I'm a feminist. And basically that stems from a strong belief that all people and creatures deserve equal opportunity, rights and respect.

My advantage as a woman and a human being has been in having a mother who believed strongly in women's education. She was an early undergraduate at Oxford, and her own mother was a doctor.

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.

The magical, supernatural force that is with us every second is time. We can't even comprehend it. It's such an illusion, it's such a strange thing.

Come back and stand with us, lad. We will all go down together that's what makes us who we are.

You can't put this possum in a cage

Throw leaders into an extreme environment, and it will separate the stark differences between greatness and mediocrity.

It was about 5 years after I was baptized before the pull of sin finally stopped.

Glamour can be something very simple. Glamour can be how you wash your face, how you make your breakfast.