I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.

There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.

At Chicago I offer a course on Emotion, Reason and the Law that law students just love. But I am not there as a lawyer, my job is to teach philosophy.

I thought as an actress I would be able to have broader emotional experiences, but then I quickly figured out that I wanted to think about tragic dramas, not act in them.

In my case, I give a lot to animal welfare because I think that's pretty neglected in America.

With inheritances, it's really important not to give the impression that you're extorting your children, and one way you can not do that is to make it clear to them that you're not leaving the whole of your estate to them at all, but to various charitable organizations.

It is easier to treat people as objects to be manipulated if you have never learned any other way to see them.

People shouldn't be teaching if they break appointments, if they behave in an irresponsible way. I try to be down-to-earth and sensible. I want students to know I'm going to work for all of them and not play favorites and that I'm really going to do my work.

Most Americans do really think that Muslims all want to take over and they don't want democracy and they want nothing but Islamic law.

I'm very upset that the Supreme Court ruled that citizens don't have standing to challenge the faith based initiatives on constitutional grounds.

Disgust and shame are inherently hierarchical; they set up ranks and orders of human beings. They are also inherently connected with restrictions on liberty in areas of non-harmful conduct.

I wish a person with a record of competence such as Nitish Kumar would get a chance to lead India.

I love fashion, and I simply enjoy good design in clothes and regard that as one of my hobbies.

Giving children the sense that you always ought to speak up for what's right, even if it costs you something, that's something you can do.

This is my Achilles heel. If some Internet technician is on the phone with me and he's being irrational and incompetent and stupid, I get really mad and I can sort of feel my blood pressure going up.

There's nothing illogical, it seems to me, about saying, 'I am going to care deeply about my work and my writing. I'm also going to care deeply about my family and my child.'

I can run a long distance very slowly and I do a half marathon every year.

There were several men who had blazed the trail for talking about emotions in philosophy; otherwise my work would have had even more opposition than it did.

When we feel helpless later in life, fear makes us scapegoat others. Instead of fixing the problems, we say, 'Oh, it's all their fault - those women or immigrants are infesting our country.' Rather than useful protest or constructive solutions, we get angry at these handy targets.

American men do have genuine reasons for anxiety. The traditional jobs that many men have filled are disappearing, thanks to automation and outsourcing. The jobs that remain require, in most cases, higher education, which is increasingly difficult for non-affluent families to afford.

Disgust for the female body is always tinged with anxiety, since the body symbolizes mortality.

When I was four I joined a group of girls who were talking about their party dresses. I thought they were imagining, so I imagined a fantastic pink velvet dress with lots of jewels. But they were simply describing what they actually wore, and they had utter contempt for my obvious fiction. After that, I never joined a group again.

We see unreasoning fear driving a certain amount of public policy, perhaps more in Europe than in the U.S.

It's always been intriguing to me, the loveability of mortality.