Robert Wright

Once you the forces that govern behavior,it's harder to blame the behaver

— Robert Wright

We are built to be effective animals, not happy ones.

— Robert Wright

“understanding the ultimate source of your suffering doesn’t, by itself, help very much.”

— Robert Wright

Being a person's true friend means endorsing the untruths he holds dearest.

— Robert Wright

“So if the conscious mind isn’t in control, what is in control?”

— Robert Wright

“Certainly the prefrontal cortex is an important thing; I’m as proud of mine as the next guy.”

— Robert Wright

Jesus is not from Georgia. Jesus does not speak English. And Jesus is not a member of the NRA.

— Robert Wright

“Nature has gone to great lengths to hide our subconscious from ourselves. Why?”

— Robert Wright

“And don’t feel like you’re committing a felony-level violation of Buddhist dogma just because you think of yourself as being a self.”

— Robert Wright

“For a species low in male parental investment, the basic dynamic of courtship, as we’ve seen, is pretty simple: the male really…

— Robert Wright

“A female in a high-MPI species may seek signs of generosity, trustworthiness, and, especially, an enduring commitment to her in particular.”

— Robert Wright

“Buddha believed that the less you judge things—including the contents of your mind—the more clearly you’ll see them, and the less deluded…

— Robert Wright

“Imagine if our negative feelings, or at least lots of them, turned out to be illusions, and we could dispel them by…

— Robert Wright

“Maybe it shouldn’t surprise us that Buddhism, with all its early austerity, was founded by a man who, as a member of…

— Robert Wright

“The gratification of curiosity rather frees us from uneasiness than confers pleasure; we are more pained by ignorance than delighted by instruction.”

— Robert Wright

God knows greed won't vanish. Neither will hatred or chauvanism. Human nature is a stubborn thing. But it isn't beyond control. Even…

— Robert Wright

“They will, on the one hand, have sex with just about anything that moves, given an easy chance, like males in a…

— Robert Wright

“Perhaps the most legitimately dispiriting thing about reciprocal altruism is that it is a misnomer. Whereas with kin selection the "goal" of…

— Robert Wright

“The keen sensitivity with which people detect the flaws of their rivals is one of nature's wonders. It takes a Herculean effort…

— Robert Wright

“No doubt the world's shamans have run the gamut from true believer to calculating fraud, and no doubt many true beliefs have…

— Robert Wright

“Is there something? Is there anything? Is there any evidence of something? Any signs that there's more to life that the sum…

— Robert Wright

Next time you see a yardful of sprouting dandelions, note that they look remarkably like things we call "flowers." And later, when…

— Robert Wright

“So if meditation did liberate you from obedience to these feelings, it would be, in a certain sense, dispelling an illusion—the illusion…

— Robert Wright

Your brain may give birth to any technology, but other brains will decide whether the technology thrives. The number of possible technologies…

— Robert Wright

“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

“This has been the point of much of this book. The human brain is a machine designed by natural selection to respond…

— Robert Wright

Darwin was one of our finest specimens. He did superbly what human beings are designed to do: manipulate social information to personal…

— Robert Wright

“Edward Tylor noted in 1874 that the religions of “savage” societies were “almost devoid of that ethical element which to the educated…

— Robert Wright

“If you want the shortest version of my answer to the question of why Buddhism is true, it's this: Because we are…

— Robert Wright

“[I]f it be any part of religion to believe that man was made by a good Being, it is more consistent with…

— Robert Wright

“The short answer is no. But it’s a “no” with an asterisk, a “no” in need of elaboration—and, since the elaboration is…

— Robert Wright

“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

“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

“[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

“Here the contention is not just that the new Darwinian paradigm can help us realize whichever moral values we happen to choose.…

— Robert Wright

“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

Giving men marriage tips is a little like offering Vikings a free booklet titled How Not to Pillage.

— Robert Wright

“the conscious self doesn’t create thoughts; it receives them.”

— Robert Wright

“feelings are “false” or perhaps “illusory” if they lead the organism astray—”

— Robert Wright

“feelings are “true” if the judgments they encode are accurate”

— Robert Wright