Bernard Williams

“People have been predicting the death of philosophy since the 17th century. When I was a student, people were saying, 'We're in the last days of philosophy.' Then we were told in the '60s it would be replaced by sociology, then by literary criticism.”

“If there's one theme in all my work, it's about authenticity and self-expression. It's the idea that some things are, in some real sense, really you - or express what you and others aren't.”

“'Humanity' is a name not merely for a species but also for a quality.”

“Talent is a flame. Genius is a fire.”

“Virtually the only subject in which one could ever get a scholarship to Oxford or Cambridge was classics. So I went to Oxford to study classics and, unlike Cambridge, it had a philosophy component, and I became completely transported by it.”

“What a strange world this would be if we all had the same sense of humor.”

“Disagreement does not necessarily have to be overcome. It may remain an important and constitutive feature of our relations to others and also be seen as something that is merely to be expected in the light of the best explanations we have of how such disagreement arises.”

“Women have a favorite room, men a favorite chair.”

“We may pass violets looking for roses. We may pass contentment looking for victory.”

“People who express themselves in paradoxes are in a strong position; and the more outrageous the paradox, in general the stronger the position.”

“Philosophy is altogether less pure now. It's been impurified by science and social science and history.”

“I was interested in philosophy before I knew I was. That's to say, when I was at school, I used to argue with my friends about issues that turned out to be philosophical ones of some kind.”

“Tragedy is formed 'round ideas it does not expound, and to understand its history is, in some part, to understand those ideas and their place in the society that produced it.”

“Life is supposed to be a series of peaks and valleys. The secret is to keep the valleys from becoming Grand Canyons.”

“A half-truth is usually less than half of that.”

“Few things are as democratic as a snowstorm.”

“The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.”

“An extravagance is something that your spirit thinks is a necessity.”

“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”

“Books had instant replay long before televised sports.”