The achievement of happiness requires not the satisfaction of our needs but the examination and transformation of those needs.

I don't run away from the idea of philosophy as seductive. I want the sentences to be prose but intense prose, to show that, like life, thinking is not linear.

The achievement of happiness requires not the satisfaction of our needs but the examination and transformation of those needs.

I know how to give the meaning of a word but not how to give the intention of a word.

I try to keep my voice in writing, and I think that's why I get so many complaints about how I write.

The academic world doesn't invite you to try to walk on two feet all the time. And in philosophy especially . . . it's a very intimidating place. The intimidation can be very thin, or it can stop you.

Philosophy is the education of grown-ups.