The truly humble feel the ground beneath their feet every day and do not only become aware of it when held aloft or pushed down to their knees.

I just think that the skepticism about truth has almost completely flipped - from being something associated with generally left-leaning progressives to being something which is a tool of right-wing populists and demagogues. I think a lot of those people writing books ten years ago would now think those books are no longer needed, they've kind of been vindicated.

If there is an art of living, it is not something that can be taught timelessly. We have lessons to learn from Aristotle et al, for sure, but not if we simply uproot them from their epoch and stamp them into 21st-century soil.

I'm not one of these people who is sour about academia. I'm very lucky not to be in academia, but I am an absolute parasite. While I was writing my book on comparative philosophy I was drawing on some fantastic scholars - university based people. The academy is absolutely necessary, but there should also be a role for those bringing it together. It's such a frustration sometimes.

Being virtuous is wonderful thing, but feeling virtuous is a shortcut to vice.

There is such a thing as fanaticism, it is always wrong, and if you disagree, you're wrong too.

There are many things you shouldn't measure. Don't, for example, try to measure how much you love your wife!