Steven Pinker Quotes

Quotes about:

• I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift.

  Steven Pinker

  Giving, Purpose, Realization

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• Thanks to the redundancy of language, yxx cxn xndxrstxnd whxt x xm wrxtxng xvxn xf x rxplxcx xll thx vxwxls wxth xn "x" (t gts lttl hrdr f y dn't vn kn whr th vwls r)

  Steven Pinker

  Thanks, Language, Redundancy

  Steven Pinker (1994). “The Language Instinct”, William Morrow & Company

  57 Copy quote

• All our behaviours are a result of neurophysiological activity in the brain. There is no reason to believe there is any magic going on.

  Steven Pinker

  Believe, Psychology, Magic

  "Steven Pinker: The evolutionary man". Interview with John Crace, www.theguardian.com. June 16, 2008.

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• Words let us say the things we want to say and also things we would be better off not having said. They let us know the things we need to know, and also things we wish we didn't.

  Steven Pinker

  Wish, Would Be, Needs

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• In our society, the best predictor of a man's wealth is his wife's looks, and the best predictor of a woman's looks is her husband's wealth.

  Steven Pinker

  Husband, Men, Wife

  Steven Pinker (2009). “How the Mind Works”, p.482, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Without goals the very concept of intelligence is meaningless

  Steven Pinker

  Goal, Concepts, Meaningless

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• Reading is a technology for perspective-taking. When someone else's thoughts are in your head, you are observing the world from that person's vantage point.

  Steven Pinker

  Reading, Technology, Perspective

  Steven Pinker (2011). “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined”, p.203, Penguin

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• We will never have a perfect world, but it's not romantic or naive to work toward a better one.

  Steven Pinker

  Perfect, World, A Perfect World

  34 Copy quote

• Babies are born with the instinct to speak, the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don't need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different.

  Steven Pinker

  Baby, Reading, Different

  39 Copy quote

• Cognitive psychology has shown that the mind best understands facts when they are woven into a conceptual fabric, such as a narrative, mental map, or intuitive theory. Disconnected facts in the mind are like unlinked pages on the Web: They might as well not exist.

  Steven Pinker

  Psychology, Mind, Woven

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• We're living in primate heaven. We're warm, dry, we're not hungry, we don't have fleas and ticks and infections. So why are we so miserable?

  Steven Pinker

  Heaven, Fleas, Dry

  "Steven Pinker: the mind reader". www.theguardian.com. November 5, 1999.

  28 Copy quote

• We are visual creatures. Visual things stay put, whereas sounds fade.

  Steven Pinker

  Sound, Visuals, Creatures

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• Knowing there is a world that will outlive you, there are people whose well-being depends on how you live your life, affects the way you live your life, whether or not you directly experience those effects. You want to be the kind of person who has the larger view, who takes other people's interests into account, who's dedicated to the principles that you can justify, like justice, knowledge, truth, beauty and morality.

  Steven Pinker

  Atheist, Knowing, Views

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• Cognitive psychology tells us that the unaided human mind is vulnerable to many fallacies and illusions because of its reliance on its memory for vivid anecdotes rather than systematic statistics.

  Steven Pinker

  Memories, Psychology, Mind

  "Steven Pinker: fighting talk from the prophet of peace". Interview with John Naughton, www.theguardian.com. October 15, 2011.

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• All of the violence that doesn't occur doesn't get reported on the news.

  Steven Pinker

  News, Violence

  "War And Violence On The Decline In Modern Times". Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan, www.npr.org. October 8, 2012.

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• Morality comes from a commitment to treat other as we wish to be treated, which follows from the realization that none of us is the sole occupant of the universe.

  Steven Pinker

  Commitment, Wish, Realization

  14 Copy quote

• 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 a window into each sex's unalloyed desires. Pornography for men is visual, anatomical, impulsive, floridly promiscuous and devoid of context and character. Erotica for women is far more likely to be verbal, psychological, reflective, serially monogamous and rich in context and character. Men fantasise about copulating with bodies; women fantasise about making love to people.

  Steven Pinker

  Sex, Character, Men

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• The stirrings of morality emerge early in childhood. Toddlers spontaneously offer toys and help to others and try to comfort people they see in distress.

  Steven Pinker

  People, Childhood, Trying

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• It's natural to think that living things must be the handiwork of a designer. But it was also natural to think that the sun went around the earth. Overcoming naive impressions to figure out how things really work is one of humanity's highest callings.

  Steven Pinker

  Science, Thinking, Humanity

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• Morality, then, is not a set of arbitrary regulations dictated by a vengeful deity and written down in a book; nor is it the custom of a particular culture or tribe. It is a consequence of the interchangeability of perspectives and the opportunity the world provides for positive-sum games.

  Steven Pinker

  Book, Opportunity, Games

  Steven Pinker (2011). “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined”, p.211, Penguin

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• If you give people literacy, bad ideas can be attacked and experiments tried, and lessons will accumulate.

  Steven Pinker

  Ideas, Giving, People

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• Sex and excretion are reminders that anyone's claim to round-the-clock dignity is tenuous. The so-called rational animal has a desperate drive to pair up and moan and writhe.

  Steven Pinker

  Sex, Fear, Animal

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• The idea that children are passive repositories to be shaped by their parents has been massively overstated. A child's peer group is a far greater determinant of its development and achievements than parental aspiration.

  Steven Pinker

  Children, Ideas, Achievement

  "Steven Pinker: The evolutionary man". Interview with John Crace, www.theguardian.com. June 16, 2008.

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• The more you think about and interact with other people, the more you realize that it is untenable to privilege your interests over theirs.

  Steven Pinker

  Thinking, People, Privilege

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• Societies that empower women are less violent in every way.

  Steven Pinker

  Empowering, Way, Empowering Women

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