Much of human history can, I think, be described as a gradual and sometimes painful liberation from provincialism, the emerging awareness that there is more to the world than was generally believed by our ancestors.

The well-meaning contention that all ideas have equal merit seems to me little different from the disastrous contention that no ideas have any merit.

Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions.

Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves.

The illegality of cannabis is outrageous.

The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.

The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before.