Regret doesn't remind us that we did badly, it reminds us that we know that we could do better.

doubt is a skill. credulity ,by contrast, appears to be something very like an instinct

First, philosophy concerns itself with all kinds of issues that don't get much airtime in day-to-day life. What's the nature of reality? Can we ever truly know anything, and if so, how? What does it mean to be a moral agent? And while we're at it, is there any such thing as agency anyway?

We're terrified of not having the answers, and we would sometimes rather assert an incorrect answer than make our peace with the fact that we really don't know.

Thirty-three percent of all of our regrets pertain to decisions we made about education.

Take away the ability of an intelligent, principled, hard-working mind to get it wrong, and you take away the whole thing.

I can usually find my own way out of whatever dicey literary or linguistic situations I wander into, but I have to work much harder at the science.