Knowledge is not a guarantee of good political behavior, but ignorance is a virtual guarantee of bad behavior.

The imagination is an innate gift, but it needs refinement and cultivation; this is what the humanities provide.

Every single university student should study philosophy. You need to lead the examined life and question your beliefs. If you don't learn critical thinking, then political debate degenerates into a contest of slogans.

To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, the ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control that can lead you to be shattered.

Courses in the humanities, in particular, often seem impractical, but they are vital, because they stretch your imagination and challenge your mind to become more responsive, more critical, bigger.

Envy, propelled by fear, can be even more toxic than anger, because it involves the thought that other people enjoy the good things of life which the envier can't hope to attain through hard work and emulation.

It's always easier for people to face backward than to face forward.

Fear requires belief that you will be harmed, and it is easily manipulated by rhetoric.

We have fear as soon as we are born, we are born into a state of physical helplessness.