I say that virtue is really all about enjoying yourself, living fully; but of course it is far from obvious what living fully actually means.

Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is 'The Book of British Birds,' and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology.

In the end, it is because the media are driven by the power and wealth of private individuals that they turn private lives into public spectacles. If every private life is now potentially public property, it is because private property has undermined public responsibility.

If history, philosophy and so on vanish from academic life, what they leave in their wake may be a technical training facility or corporate research institute. But it will not be a university in the classical sense of the term, and it would be deceptive to call it one.

Genuine equality means not treating everyone the same, but attending equally to everyone’s different needs.

Being brought up in a culture is a matter of learning appropriate forms of feeling as much as particular ways of thinking.

The past can be used to renew the present, not just to bury it.