I had drunk our great cultural Kool-Aid about regret, which is that lamenting things that occurred in the past is an absolute waste of time, that we should always look forward and not backward, and that one of the noblest and best things we can do is strive to live a life free of regrets.

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.

Wow. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.

If it is sweet to be right, then - let's not deny it - it is downright savory to point out that someone else is wrong.

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

both doubt and certainty are as contagious as the common cold

Parading our own brilliance and exulting in other people's errors is not very nice. For that matter, even wanting to parade our own brilliance and exult in other people's errors is not very nice, although it is certainly very human.