A truly common culture is not one in which we all think alike, or in which we all believe that fairness is next to godliness, but one in which everyone is allowed to be in on the project of cooperatively shaping a common way of life.

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

I value my Catholic background very much. It taught me not to be afraid of rigorous thought, for one thing.

The German philosopher Walter Benjamin had the curious notion that we could change the past. For most of us, the past is fixed while the future is open.

When one emphasizes, as Jacques Derrida once remarked, one always overemphasizes.

It is true that too much belief can be bad for your health.

Scratch a schoolboy and you find a savage.