Commerce, trade and exchange make other people more valuable alive than dead, and mean that people try to anticipate what the other guy needs and wants. It engages the mechanisms of reciprocal altruism, as the evolutionary biologists call it, as opposed to raw dominance.

I teach classes 28 weeks of the year, but the rest of the time I do research and write books.

Effective education may also require co-opting old faculties to deal with new demands. . . Because much of the content of education is not cognitively natural, the process of mastering it may not always be easy and pleasant, notwithstanding the mantra that learning is fun.

The strongest argument against totalitarianism may be a recognition of a universal human nature; that all humans have innate desires for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The doctrine of the blank slate... is a totalitarian's dream.

Writers acquire their technique by spotting, savoring, and reverse-engineering examples of good prose.

The likelihood that inborn differences are one contributor to social status does not mean that it is the only contributor.

Photography is a kind of virtual reality, and it helps if you can create the illusion of being in an interesting world.