Of course the theory of evolution would be vacuous if it offered a glib explanation for every inexplicable act.

Knowledge is a continuous fabric, in which ideas are connected to other ideas. Reason-free zones, in which people can assert arbitrary beliefs safe from ordinary standards of evaluation, can only corrupt this fabric, just as a contradiction can corrupt a system of logic, allowing falsehoods to proliferate through it.

Language mavens commonly confuse their own peeves with a worsening of the language.

Commerce is a noble profession, and Jews should get over any self-hatred they might harbor from contemplating the capitalist spirit of diaspora Judaism.

Natural selection is not the only process that changes organisms over time. But is the only process that seemingly designs organisms over time.

We often feel that a clever aphorism captures a truth that would require pages to defend in any other way.

Everyone's pedigree merges into everyone else's pedigree. So if you go back far enough, everyone is related.