"Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent."

"If you can attribute your success entirely to your own mental effort, to your own attitude, to some spiritual essence that you have that is better than other people's, then that must feel pretty good."

"Natural selection, as it has operated in human history, favors not only the clever but the murderous."

"Lenders, including major credit companies as well as payday lenders, have taken over the traditional role of the street-corner loan shark, charging the poor insanely high rates of interest."

"The world of science and the world of literature have much in common. Each is an international club, helping to tie mankind together across barriers of nationality, race and language. I have been doubly lucky, being accepted as a member of both."

"Daoist thought is the root of science and technology in China."

"I don't think academic writing ever was wonderful. However, science used to be much less specialized."

"There were certain questions about the foundations of morals that advances in science all threaten to make more complicated."