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More Quotes by Steven Pinker
- Genetically influenced behavior is not necessarily good and not necessarily unchangeable. Explanations of bad behavior that appeal to genes do not absolve a person any…
- Since the point of erotica is to offer the consumer sexual experiences without having to compromise with the demands of the other sex, it is…
- Perhaps the most extraordinary popular delusion about violence of the past quarter-century is that it is caused by low self-esteem. That theory has been endorsed…
- When a scientist considers all high-tech mental machinery needed to arrange words into ordinary sentences, prescriptive rules are, at best, inconsequential little decorations. The very…
- What a dull universe it would be if everything in it conformed to our expectations, if it held nothing to surprise or baffle us or…
- As technology accumulates and people in more parts of the planet become interdependent, the hatred between them tends to decrease, for the simple reason that…
- We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be left more vulnerable,…
- In many Muslim countries, witchcraft is not only on the books as a crime, but is commonly prosecuted. In 2009, for example, Saudi Arabia convicted…
- Humans are so innately hardwired for language that they can no more suppress their ability to learn and use language than they can suppress the…
- It is true that raids and battles killed a tiny percentage of the numbers that die in modern warfare. But in tribal violence, the clashes…
- I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift.
- In societies no less than individuals, acknowledging our limitations may ultimately be more humane than denying them.
- By all measures men are the more violent gender.
- I don't think aggression works like thirst or sleep. I think aggression is more elicited by particular situations. I think it can be mitigated.
- Pre-state societies were far more violent than our own.
- Today we take it for granted that war happens in smaller, poorer and more backward countries.
- I think that communism was a major force for violence for more than 100 years, because it was built into its ideology - that progress…
- America had, for one thing, lived in anarchy for - until much more recently than Europe. We had the Wild West, where the cliche of…
- By exploring the political and moral colorings of discoveries about what makes us tick, we can have a more honest science and a less fearful…
- Climate change could produce a lot of misery and waste without necessarily leading to large-scale armed conflict, which depends more on ideology and bad governance…
More More Quotes
- I'm hoping someday that some kid, black or white, will hit more home runs than myself. Whoever it is, I'd be pulling… — Hank Aaron
- The more dubious and uncertain an instrument violence has become in international relations, the more it has gained in reputation and appeal… — Hannah Arendt
- No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes. On the contrary, whatever the punishment, once… — Hannah Arendt
- I believe more in precision, when you have the capability, like when you see a mosquito fly and you're able to hit… — Alexis Arguello
- As a kid, 'Star Wars' was much more my thing than 'Star Trek' was. — J. J. Abrams
- I believe in anything that will engage the audience and make the story more effective. — J. J. Abrams
- Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those… — Aristotle
- All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. — Aristotle