The (atomic) soul is mortal, and the best life is the one with the least pain and the most pleasure.

The Epicureans denied that the gods had created the world and also denied that they played any role in it.

The higher the coefficient of inequality (Gini coefficient) in a society, the worse things tend to be for those at the bottom.

I have to say that some philosophers such as the late Bernard Williams, and I would include myself in this group, would say that tranquillity is overrated as the goal of life.

We have to gamble, and sometimes lose as George Ainslie argues; this keeps the appetite for life sharp.

'Contract' succeeded 'status' as the basic organising principle in modern political vs. ancient society.

Atomism had no absolute 'above' and 'below' and no such rulers, so favoured the undersranding of justice as an agreement amongst equals.

Epicurus thought of justice as an agreement to prevent people harming and being harmed.

Epicurus was not at all interested in what we would call the problems of mass society, and he thought civic politics was just trouble and to be avoided by the wise.

Claims like 'Slavery is wrong' are not fully common-sensical, so they must be at least partly theoretical.

I think we do have a better understanding now of how moral thought and discourse function.

To achieve greatness, let us be helpful and grateful to others.

You are born into your family and your family is born into you. No returns. No exchanges.

Change comes with both fear and some pain. Those two ingredients create mistrust, misunderstanding and misinformation. Such is the process of democracy.

It's not fair to use movies that weren't creatively successful as a reason why something won't work.

Jerry Falwell says that abortion and homosexuality are sins. Oh yeah? Well, so is gluttony, Jerry. So maybe you should think about dropping 50 pounds.

I got my first exposure to Islam when I was 13.

I have never sought the reason why I write.

The other thing [my psychology professor] said to me was that I was always very mindful of the person who was away from the group, that I was always trying to bring them in.

A Warrior often loses heart.

One good thing about being a woman is we haven't too many examples yet of what a genius looks like. It could be me.