Wisdom in fragments

It is very common in politics that each party assume the other party cheated in every election if they lose. It's not that republicans are more suspicious than democrats or vice versa, but their constructive paranoia leads them to believe that the other party is doing something sinister.

Founder of The Skeptics Society & Science Communicator

Education attenuates conspiracism such as those without a high school diploma are twice as likely to believe conspiracy theories than people with a graduate degree. But 1 in 5 people with a graduate degree believe in conspiracy theories, which is 20% – that is a high number. Education does not entirely eliminate it.

Founder of The Skeptics Society & Science Communicator

The unintelligibility of suffering adds insult to injury. I don't think we can have reassurance that 'it's always for the best', but I think we can understand what's going on. The craving for understanding for many of us is deep, and philosophy can help us overcome that frustration.

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

Philosophy is not an anaesthetic, like it's just going to make the pain go away. But there is great solace in really understanding why chronic pain is difficult. Understanding those things can be consoling in itself, in part because it overcomes the isolation of illness.

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

We flee from affliction the way an animal flees from death. There's a sense in which it's perfectly natural that our response to difficulty in life is aversive. We're only going to be able to live well with the difficulties of life if we face up to them, because they're difficult.

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

We have to live in the world as it is, not the world as we wish it would be, is something that we misunderstand. If we are realistic those ideals are usually out of reach, and in fact thinking about them and dreaming about them is a way to punish ourselves for the fact our lives are never going to match up to those ideals.

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

We believe that flexibility should exist, and that benefits earned should be portable and proportional to the amount of work you're doing on each platform. It's a tremendous opportunity for the global work-system.

We're creating a different type of work. The average Dasher dashes for about four hours a week, and very often they're trying to save-up for something and use it as a supplement to their income.

Nobody will fund innovation in perpetuity – you need to make money; you need to deliver value to your customers. When people ask me whether we want growth or profit, I say yes! Both!

Entrepreneurial businesses innovate, change, evolve and meet customer needs… it's about creating things that people value and love.

It's tougher being a leader now, in 2022, than it was in 1982 when I joined the Foreign Office. Leaders are examined much more closely, and constantly, now than they were in the past.

Power is the ability to get things done, to have your way and to make people do things they perhaps didn't want to do – such as pay taxes or go to war.

There is no such thing as one-sided victory in diplomacy, perhaps in war there is, but not in diplomacy. You are always, or at least should always be, mindful of the other side.

The clearest thing about being a diplomat is the knowledge that you aren't in control. The problems you're dealing with are huge – with multiple players and facets. Nobody involved in diplomacy can kid themselves that they are in charge, or in control.

Built into her edict, is not to feel any guilt if you find happiness or joy after her death. That is an extraordinarily generous piece of advice.

British actor known for Withnail and I and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Despite every adversity, never give up on your dreams. I am living proof that having been born and brought up in the smallest country in the Southern Hemisphere, it is possible to fulfil your ambition and succeed despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

British actor known for Withnail and I and Star Wars: The Force Awakens