The universe has become not only conscious and aware of itself but capable in some respects of choosing its path into the future--though all three, the consciousness, the knowledge, and the choice, are dispersed over a vast crowd of beings, acting both individually and collectively.

Everyone is entitled to commit murder in the imagination once in a while, not to mention lesser infractions.

Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.

A theory of motivation is defective if it renders intelligible behaviour which is not intelligible.

Leading a human life is a full-time occupation, to which everyone devotes decades of intense concern.

Altruism itself depends on a recognition of the reality of other persons, and on the equivalent capacity to regard oneself as merely one individual among many.

If sub specie aeternitatis [from eternity's point of view] there is no reason to believe that anything matters, then that does not matter either, and we can approach our absurd lives with irony instead of heroism or despair.