751 Quotes by Steven Pinker

  • Author Steven Pinker
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    Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary contains the following entry: Mind, n. A mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain. Its chief activity consists in the endeavor to ascertain its own nature, the futility of the attempt being due to the fact that it has nothing but itself to know itself with.

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  • Author Steven Pinker
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    People affirm or deny these beliefs to express not what they know but who they are.

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  • Author Steven Pinker
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    In either case genetics and neuroscience are showing that a heart of darkness cannot always be blamed on parents or society.

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  • Author Steven Pinker
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    King immediately appreciated that Gandhi’s theory of nonviolent resistance was not a moralistic affirmation of love, as nonviolence had been in the teachings of Jesus. Instead it was a set of hardheaded tactics to prevail over an adversary by outwitting him rather than trying to annihilate him.

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  • Author Steven Pinker
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    Nothing invests life with more meaning than the realisation that every moment of sentience is a precious gift.

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  • Author Steven Pinker
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    It’s really only nuclear weapons that deserve the WMD acronym.

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  • Author Steven Pinker
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    Students do everything on laptops these days, so I definitely think electronic books are a trend that’s going to expand.

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  • Author Steven Pinker
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    When it comes to correct English, there’s no one in charge; the lunatics are running the asylum.

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  • Author Steven Pinker
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    Tom Hanks, who starred in ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ turns out to be related to a number of the historic characters that feature in ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ including William the Conqueror and Shakespeare.

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