Julian Baggini

“It may not have the virtuous ring of the golden rule, but the maxim 'never say never' is one of the most important in ethics.”

“This is the deal: we are happy to single out people as superior just as long as they don't accept the description themselves. We want heroes and idols, but we also want egalitarianism, and that requires proclamations of humility from our gods.”

“Big sporting events and spectacles might give the national morale a shot in the arm, but they are too transient and taste-specific to stand as robust symbols of nationhood.”

“The modern believer is not suspicious enough, which is perhaps why, when they try to construct arguments in their defence, the convictions are left doing all the work and reason, debilitated by neglect, weakly fails to prop them up.”

“Progress is more of a challenge for the cynic but also more important and urgent, since for the optimist things aren't that bad and are bound to get better anyway.”

“Being a good neighbour is about compassion, which is as warm-blooded as justice is cool-headed.”

“If we find it hard to believe that winning millions might not be so lucky after all, we just don't have a good enough imagination. If I fantasise about winning the lottery, it doesn't take long before all sorts of worrisome potential consequences occur to me.”

“Waiting is so unusual that many of us can't stand in a queue for 30 seconds without getting out our phones to check for messages or to Google something.”

“Love is indeed, at root, the product of the firings of neurons and release of hormones.”

“I don't think anyone who genuinely embraced sincerity, charity and modesty could be intolerant or divisive.”

“If you believe you are right, then you should believe that you can make the case that you're right. This requires you to deal with serious objections properly.”

“If philosophy is to be a valuable part of life, we have to appreciate it for its own sake, and not just for what it's done for us lately.”

“I don't feel proprietorial about the problems of philosophy. History has taught us that many philosophical issues can grow up, leave home and live elsewhere.”

“Many people are never happier than when they get the opportunity to complain, while others are deeply unhappy with how things are but just accept the fact. Complaint occurs when we refuse to accept that things are wrong and we do something about it, even if that something is simply articulating our unease.”

“Dover's cliffs call to mind the Roman invasion; the Battle of Britain; our proximity to, yet difference from, mainland Europe; and international trade and exploration, both fair and exploitative.”

“There are many things you shouldn't measure. Don't, for example, try to measure how much you love your wife!”

“Christmas is a rare occasion when we are reminded that we have obligations to people we did not choose to be related to, and that love is not just a spontaneous feeling but something we sometimes really have to work at, with people we may not even much like.”

“People should not expect the state to protect them from fraudsters. If we do, we get into the habit of neglecting our own powers of intellectual discernment.”

“The very act of questioning whether you exist proves you do, because you must be there for the doubt to be entertained in the first place.”

“Instead of showing strangers kindness and giving them the benefit of the doubt, we increasingly show them only fear, and that is bad for us and them.”