Try to acquire the weird practice of savoring your mistakes, delighting in uncovering the strange quirks that led you astray. Then, when you have sucked out all the goodness to be gained from having made them, you can cheerfully forget them and go on to the next big opportunity.

There are no forces on this planet more dangerous to all of us than the fanaticisms of fundamentalism.

I'm the guy who reputedly denies that people experience colors or pains, and thinks that thermostats think — just ask my critics.

If I know better than you know what I am up to, it is only because I spend more time with myself than you do.

The traditional view of purpose says it comes from on high, from God, from the Creator. Darwin's idea of natural selection makes people uncomfortable because it reverses the direction of tradition. Whereas people used to think of meaning coming from on high and being ordained from the top down, now we have Darwin saying, "No, all of this design can happen, all of this purpose can emerge from the bottom up without any direction at all."

The chief trick to making good mistakes is not to hide them-especially not from yourself.

A child raised on a desert island, alone, without social interaction, without language, and thus lacking empathy, is still a sentient being.