“the conscious self doesn’t create thoughts; it receives them.” — Robert Wright Conscious Copy Share Image
Giving men marriage tips is a little like offering Vikings a free booklet titled How Not to Pillage. — Robert Wright Giving Copy Share Image
..various people had long had the feeling that gain through pain was nature's way — Robert Wright Feeling Copy Share Image
“The sages may have been self-serving, like the rest of us, but that doesn't mean they weren't sages.” — Robert Wright Evolutionary psychology Copy Share Image
“feelings are “false” or perhaps “illusory” if they lead the organism astray—” — Robert Wright Feelings Copy Share Image
“feelings are “true” if the judgments they encode are accurate” — Robert Wright Feelings Copy Share Image
“realizing you’re not king can be the first step toward getting some real power.” — Robert Wright First step Copy Share Image
Being a person's true friend means endorsing the untruths he holds dearest. — Robert Wright Endorsing Copy Share Image
“Sensual pleasures are the whip natural selection uses to control us, to keep us in the thrall of its warped values system.” — Robert Wright Natural selection Copy Share Image
In the great non zero sum games of history, if you're part of the problem, then you'll likely be a victim of… — Robert Wright Games Copy Share Image
“Human nature consists of knobs and of mechanisms for tuning the knobs, and both are invisible in their own way.” — Robert Wright Human nature Copy Share Image
“happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being ruled by… — Robert Wright Happiness Copy Share Image
“William James wrote in The Varieties of Religious Experience that religion “consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and… — Robert Wright Faith Copy Share Image
“As Kurzban has summarized this finding, “We think we’re better than average at not being biased in thinking that we’re better than… — Robert Wright Think Better Copy Share Image
Next time you see an unblemished expanse of grass, think about the chemicals that probably got dumped in your vicinity to create… — Robert Wright Chemicals Copy Share Image
Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than… — Robert Wright Admirable Copy Share Image
Actually, there is a sense in which polygynous marriage has not been the historical norm - even where polygyny is permitted, multiple… — Robert Wright Evolution Copy Share Image
“The idea is that human culture as broadly defined--art, politics, technology, religion, and so on--evolves in much the way biological species evolve:… — Robert Wright Change Copy Share Image
Maybe the growth of "God" signifies the existence of God. That is: if history naturally pushes people toward moral improvement, toward moral… — Robert Wright Becoming Copy Share Image
“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" asked the Christian theologian Tertullian... Having received the revealed thruth via Christ, "we want no… — Robert Wright Jerusalem Copy Share Image
We're all puppets, and our best hope for even partial liberation is to try to decipher the logic of the puppeteer. Just… — Robert Wright Agendas Copy Share Image
Corruption is knowing when something is not being done, knowing when the American people are being left unprotected and when you make… — Robert Wright American people Copy Share Image
“When monogamy is found in subsistence-level cultures, Alexander calls it “ecologically imposed.” When it appears in more affluent, more stratified cultures, he… — Robert Wright Monogamy Copy Share Image
If two people stare at each other for more than a few seconds, it means they are about to either make love… — Robert Wright Community Copy Share Image
“The Chukchee, a people indigenous to Siberia, had their own special way of dealing with unruly winds. A Chukchee man would chant,… — Robert Wright Winds Chukchee Copy Share Image
“The believers believe there’s something out there—some “thing” in some sense of the word “thing”—that corresponds to the word “electron”; and that,… — Robert Wright Believers Believe Copy Share Image
“What causes all the hatred? At some level, it’s always the same thing: human beings operating under the influence of human brains… — Robert Wright Bad thing Copy Share Image
If war can indeed be turned into a relic, then the virtue of greed will recede further. From a given society's standpoint,… — Robert Wright Acquisition Copy Share Image
Whereas modern cynicism brought despair about the ability of the human species to realize laudable ideals, postmodern cynicism doesn't — not because… — Robert Wright Ability Copy Share Image
Darwin was one of our finest specimens. He did superbly what human beings are designed to do: manipulate social information to personal… — Robert Wright Abbey Copy Share Image
“Buddhist thought and modern psychology converge on this point: in human life as it’s ordinarily lived, there is no one self, no… — Robert Wright Better way Copy Share Image
“This has been the point of much of this book. The human brain is a machine designed by natural selection to respond… — Robert Wright Books Copy Share Image
“[L]asting love is something a person has to decide to experience. Lifelong monogamous devotion is just not natural—not for women even, and… — Robert Wright Affection Copy Share Image
“Altruism, compassion, empathy, love, conscience, the sense of justice—all of these things, the things that hold society together, the things that allow… — Robert Wright Altruism Copy Share Image
“Here the contention is not just that the new Darwinian paradigm can help us realize whichever moral values we happen to choose.… — Robert Wright Darwinism Copy Share Image
“Brewer said the basic idea is to not fight the urge to, say, smoke a cigarette. That doesn’t mean you succumb to… — Robert Wright Body Urge Copy Share Image
“understanding the ultimate source of your suffering doesn’t, by itself, help very much.” — Robert Wright Suffering Copy Share Image
Once you the forces that govern behavior,it's harder to blame the behaver — Robert Wright Behavior Copy Share Image
“Nature has gone to great lengths to hide our subconscious from ourselves. Why?” — Robert Wright Hide Copy Share Image
![“[L]asting love is something a person has to decide to experience. Lifelong monogamous devotion is just not natural—not for women even, and emphatically not for men. It requires what, for lack of a better term, we can call an act of will. . . . This isn't to say that a young man can't hope to be…” quote by Robert Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c0c/robert-wright-8640_affection_l-asting-love-is-something-a-person-has_2157037.jpg)
