Steven Pinker Giving Quotations

Being smarter gives you a tailwind throughout life. People who are more intelligent earn more, live longer, get divorced less, are less likely to get addicted to alcohol and tobacco, and their children live longer.

Morality is not just any old topic in psychology but close to our conception of the meaning of life. Moral goodness is what gives each of us the sense that we are worthy human beings.

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

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