Philosophers get attention only when they appear to be doing something sinister - corrupting the youth, undermining the foundations of civilization, sneering at all we hold dear. The rest of the time everybody assumes that they are hard at work somewhere down in the sub-basement, keeping those foundations in good repair. Nobody much cares what brand of intellectual duct tape is being used.

Always strive to excel, but only on weekends.

If the body had been easier to understand, nobody would have thought that we had a mind.

What counts as rational argumentation is as historically determined and as context-dependent, as what counts as good French.

My principal motive is the belief that we can still make admirable sense of our lives even if we cease to have... an ambition of transcendence.

National pride is to countries what self-respect is to individuals: a necessary condition for self-improvement.

Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.