Rebecca Goldstein

Those who share my heroes are, in the deepest sense, of my own kind.

— Rebecca Goldstein

Answers? Forget answers. The spectacle is all in the questions.

— Rebecca Goldstein

“Rational self-interest is always what morality boils down to.”

— Rebecca Goldstein

“Freedom for me is a pain in the Buridan's ass.”

— Rebecca Goldstein

“There's no reason. Mazel, Maurice. Only mazel.” (p. 343)”

— Rebecca Goldstein

Mother' is not an identity one can just try on for size.

— Rebecca Goldstein

Thinking is the soul speaking to itself.

— Rebecca Goldstein

“leave me. And it was a great sense of relief. The”

— Rebecca Goldstein

It's something that's very often said that philosophy, as opposed to science, never makes any progress.

— Rebecca Goldstein

“Genius in a person was like weed that takes over the entire garden, that won't allow anything else to grow. (p. 251)”

— Rebecca Goldstein

“And by the way, Sherlock Holmes is Jewish. He changed his name. I'm surprised you nerver guessed it. (p. 248)”

— Rebecca Goldstein

We may not need God to tell us where the world came from, but we need God to be able to live…

— Rebecca Goldstein

Philosophy addresses, in a systematic and progress-making way, questions of deep concern to everyone.

— Rebecca Goldstein

The philosophers talk across the centuries exclusively to one another, hermetically sealed from any influences derived from non-philosophical discourse.

— Rebecca Goldstein

Paraphrasing Plato's Republic: "Only people who have allowed themselves to be reformed by reality have it in themselves to reform their polis…

— Rebecca Goldstein

“We must believe that he will come but never believe that he is come. There is no Messiah but an uncome Messiah.”

— Rebecca Goldstein

Everyone loves a hero. What we differ on is the question of who the heroes are, because we differ over what matters.…

— Rebecca Goldstein

For the ancient Greeks, who lacked our social media, the only way to achieve mass duplication of the details of one's life…

— Rebecca Goldstein

Philosophers feel a little more cautious about letting down their technical guard lest the general public doesn't recognize their special credentials. It's…

— Rebecca Goldstein

Given cognitive vulnerabilities, it would be convenient to have an arrangement whereby reality could tell us off; and that is precisely what…

— Rebecca Goldstein

If you don't exert yourself, or if your exertions don't amount to much of anything, then you might as well not have…

— Rebecca Goldstein

“I feel an immediate closeness to anyone who loves New York or hates Los Angeles. Either condition is sufficient, but I’ve found…

— Rebecca Goldstein

What is it precisely, that they are doing when they are doing science. Are they refining their instruments for observation or discovering…

— Rebecca Goldstein

Philosophy is this amazing technique we've devised for getting reality to answer us back when we're getting it wrong. Science itself can't…

— Rebecca Goldstein

I was trained as a philosopher never to put philosophers and their ideas into historical contexts, since historical context has nothing to…

— Rebecca Goldstein

When you ask why did some particular question occur to a scientist or philosopher for the first time, or why did this…

— Rebecca Goldstein

One of the interesting things about the ancient Greeks is that they really didn't have our conception of individual rights. They didn't…

— Rebecca Goldstein

I think one reason is that philosophers are more insecure to speak accessibly because non-philosophers are skeptical that philosophers have any special…

— Rebecca Goldstein

Are there experts, ethical experts, that's very offensive to all of us? Because it's part of our humanity to have a stake…

— Rebecca Goldstein

The contrast between the two, the sweetness and the badness, wrenches the heart of the lover as such sweetness on its own…

— Rebecca Goldstein

“Of course, I’m not one to judge people by their appearances, Rhonda, but from how this guy looked I would have said…

— Rebecca Goldstein

Does God have a reason for wanting us to be charitable, to take care of those who can't take care of themselves?…

— Rebecca Goldstein

“I was trained as a philosopher never to put philosophers and their ideas into historical contexts, since historical context has nothing to…

— Rebecca Goldstein

“...Plato conceived of philosophy as necessarily gregarious rather than solitary. The exposure of presumptions is best done in company, the more argumentative…

— Rebecca Goldstein

“The contrast between the two, the sweetness and the badness, wrenches the heart of the lover as such sweetness on its own…

— Rebecca Goldstein

“In Greek, our word for play is paidia and the word for education is paideia, and it is very natural and right…

— Rebecca Goldstein

The will to matter is at least as important as the will to believe.

— Rebecca Goldstein

“Ven mazel kumt, shtelt im a shtul. When mazel comes, pull up a chair for it. (p. 292)”

— Rebecca Goldstein

“Our failures in charity are chained to a narrowed vision of the world that makes too much of the differences between us,…

— Rebecca Goldstein

The sum and substance of education is the right training that effectually leads the soul of the child at play on to…

— Rebecca Goldstein