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

Superstition is the need to view the world in terms of simple cause and effect.

Science is a little bit more than a wonderful way of modelling and predicting; its a wonderful technical abstraction. I think science is a really wonderful technical abstraction.

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.

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

In the end, living is defined by dying.

Consciousness is the feel of accessing memory.