Regardless of whether people have free will, human flourishing requires that they live in an environment in which they are treated as if they did.

The percentage of people qualifying for federal disability benefits because they are unable to work rose from 0.7 percent of the size of the labor force in 1960 to 5.3% in 2010.

The human impulse behind the isolation of class is as basic as impulses get: People like to be around other people who understand them and to whom they can talk.

They don't know the distinction between taking care of a child and raising a child.

The average Harvard freshman in 1952 would have placed in the bottom 10 percent of the incoming class by 1960.

Data can bear on policy issues, but many of our opinions about policy are grounded in premises about the nature of human life and human society that are beyond the reach of data.

Responsibility for the consequences of actions is not the price of freedom, but one of its rewards.

paying taxes is a cheap price for a quiet conscience—much cheaper than actually having to get involved in the lives of their fellow citizens.

These days people wallow in enormous masses of sound.

If you cannot inspire a woman with love of you, fill her above the brim with love of herself; all that runs over will be yours.

It's my mission to tell the Australians from abroad in my work that Australia is a wonderful place.

In our old age my beloved companion said to me quietly one evening, "You have always given me wings to fly, and I have loved you for it.

As a friend of mine, herself a writer, says, 'People who spend the most meaningful hours of their lives in the exclusive company of imaginary people are apt to be a little strange'

Her other mother smiled brightly and the hair on her head drifted like plants under the sea.

Life, when fully lived under a variety of cultural conditions, can be euphoric and optimistic; it can be a joy to experience and a wonder to behold.

I bounced off a rock at the bottom and saw stars for a second, but I wasn't knocked out. It's the rush of rushes, the most incredible feeling I've ever had.

Ninety percent of everything is crap.