There are really exercises in a kind of consumerist ethic that I think don't have the same moral weight as medicine or health.

One can imagine a kind of hormonal arms race or genetic arms race, whether it's to do with height or IQ, conceivably, in the future. So it's limitless, and that's another of the features that sets it apart from medical intervention.

It's ultimately the purpose of education to cultivate the love of learning for its own sake.

I think too often in our society parents, who may have good impulses, overreach and try to mold and shape and direct their child.

Very often when we aim at the best, or what we may think is the best for our children, we aim really at lesser things, such as getting into a certain college.

First, individual rights cannot be sacrificed for the sake of the general good, and second, the principles of justice that specify these rights cannot be premised on any particular vision of the good life. What justifies the rights is not that they maximize the general welfare or otherwise promote the good, but rather that they comprise a fair framework within which individuals and groups can choose their own values and ends, consistent with a similar liberty for others.

Democracy does not require perfect equality, but it does require that citizens share in a common life.