“Helen stared at him How do you do that? How do you figure everything out so quickly? You may be all-powerful, but nothing beats plain old logic. He smiled at her”
“Mel exhaled. Why are you forcing me into the voice-of-reason role? You know that never works out for us.”
“For faith, properly understood, does not contradict reason in the least; indeed...it is nothing less than the will to keep one s mind fixed precisely on what reason has discovered to it.”
“All we have to do is understand that we re all here for a reason and to commit ourselves to that. Then we can laugh at our sufferings, large and small and walk fearlessly, aware that each step has meaning”
“Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? ... No other human institution comes close.”
“No emotion is, in itself, a judgement; in that sense all emotions and sentiments are alogical. but they can be reasonable or unreasonable as they conform to Reason or fail to conform. The heart never takes the place of the head: but it can, and should, obey it.”
“The sensible man, Crow had said (to Sherlock Holmes), don t look to confirm what he already knows -- he looks to deny it. Finding evidence that backs up your theories ain t useful, but finding evidence that your theories are wrong is priceless. Never try to prove yourself right -- always try to prove yourself wrong instead.”
“A slow smile spread across his lips, and he threaded his fingers through mine. I can see why I like you.”
“The mechanic, when a wheel refuses to turn, never thinks of dropping on his knees and asking the assistance of some divine power. He knows there is a reason. He knows that something is too large or too small; that there is something wrong with his machine; and he goes to work and he makes it larger or smaller, here or there, until the wheel will turn.”
“If it be true that there can be no metaphysics transcending human reason, it is no less true that there can be no empirical knowledge that is not already caught and limited by the a priori structure of cognition.”
“The only difference between me and most people is that I m perfectly aware that all my important decisions are made for me by my subconscious. My frontal lobes are just kidding themselves that they decide anything at all. All they do is think up reasons for the decisions that are already made. [Life magazine, December 10, 1965]”