The more you think about and interact with other people, the more you realize that it is untenable to privilege your interests over theirs.
Steven PinkerAstrology had an important role in the ancient world. You can't understand many things unless you know something about astrology - the plays of Shakespeare and so on.
Steven PinkerWriters acquire their technique by spotting, savoring, and reverse-engineering examples of good prose.
Steven PinkerNature is a hanging judge," goes an old saying. Many tragedies come from our physical and cognitive makeup. Our bodies are extraordinarily improbable arrangements of matter, with many ways for things to go wrong and only a few ways for things to go right. We are certain to die, and smart enough to know it. Our minds are adapted to a world that no longer exists, prone to misunderstandings correctable only by arduous education, and condemned to perplexity about the deepest questions we can ascertain.
Steven Pinker