To say that I would have done otherwise had I wanted to is simply to say that I would have lived in a different universe had I been in a different universe.

Each increment of knowledge imparted in this way is so satisfying-and one's ignorance at every stage so consequential-that the process of learning BJJ can become remarkably addictive. I have never experienced anything quite like it.

Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being. Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept.

Science, in the broadest sense, includes all reasonable claims to knowledge about ourselves and the world.

Anyone familiar with my work knows that I am extremely critical of all religious faiths.

Science is the most durable and nondivisive way of thinking about the human circumstance. It transcends cultural, national, and political boundaries. You don't have American science versus Canadian science versus Japanese science.

Strange bonds of trust and self-deception tend to grow between journalists and their subjects.