Quotes from Massimo Pigliucci

I can't speak for others, but I find the fundamental idea that a life worth living is one during which one strives every day to become a better person to be compelling.

If a theory purports to explain everything, then it is likely not explaining much at all.

One of the first lessons from Stoicism, then, is to focus our attention and efforts where we have the most power and then let the universe run as it will. This will save us both a lot of energy and a lot of worry. Another

Better to endure pain in an honorable manner than to seek joy in a shameful one.

Following the Post Modernist route, we may indeed never arrive at meaning, but not because meaning is not there... only because we are lost in endless linguistic games that are entirely beside the point.

T]he downside of skepticism: it can easily turn into an arrogant position of a priori rejection of any new phenomenon or idea, a position that is as lacking in critical thinking as the one of the true believer, and that simply does not help either science or the public at large.

Science progresses. Ideology tends to linger unchanged, and often unquestioned.

The problem nowadays is that, by and large, we do a pretty bad job of picking role models. We glorify actors, singers, athletes, and generic "celebrities," only to be disappointed when—predictably—it turns out that their excellence at reciting, singing, playing basketball, or racking up Facebook likes and Twitter followers has pretty much nothing to do with their moral fiber.

Confucius was once asked if there is "one teaching that can serve as a guide for one's entire life." He said that all you really need to know is the word reciprocity: "Do not impose upon others what you yourself do not desire.

como afirma Cicerón. Me siento satisfecho sabiendo que, sin importar el resultado real, estoy haciendo todo lo que puedo.

as astronomer Carl Sagan once aptly put it, you do not want to keep your mind so open that your brain is likely to fall out.

realize that by "philosophers" Epictetus doesn't mean professional academics (trust me, you don't want to make a habit of socializing mostly with them), but rather people who are interested in following virtue and cultivating their character.

Given the power and influence that science increasingly has in our daily lives, it is important that we as citizens of an open and democratic society learn to separate good science from bunk. This is not just a matter of intellectual curiosity, as it affects where large portions of our tax money go, and in some cases even whether people's lives are lost as a result of nonsense.

Shift your goals from the external to the internal: repeat to yourself that your objective is not to hit the target, but to deliver the best shot of which you are capable

Now here are three stages of wisdom: the unwise person blames other people for what are, in the end, her own judgments about things; the person who is making progress does not blame others, but only herself; the wise person does not blame even herself.

Stoicism is about developing the tools to deal as effectively as humanly possible with the ensuing conflicts, does not demand perfection, and does not provide specific answers: those are for fools (Epictetus's word) who think the world is black and white, good versus evil, where it is always possible to clearly tell the good guys from the bad guys. That is not the world we live in, and to pretend otherwise is more than a bit dangerous and not at all wise.

Touch everything lightly, enjoy it while it is within your reach, and do not regret it when it is gone, since that is the nature of things.

the nature of the world (and by extension, one's place in it) and the nature of human reasoning (including when it fails, as it so often does).

Epicureans, from the beginning, rejected idealisms and absolutes that divorced people from context and from nature, and chose to engage reality instead. Our morality is contextual. Rather than hand down absolute dos and don'ts, the first Epicureans elaborated methods by which we can most effectively use our faculties.

The thought is that Hitler is an unfortunate node in the way the world is unfolding. He did not choose to be the evil person he is. He deserves compassion, not anger. And he must die for reasons of compassion: compassion for him and all those who might suffer his awfulness.

El universo no se inclina ante sus deseos, sino que hace lo que hace; su jefe, sus compañeros, los accionistas de la empresa, los clientes y una serie de factores adicionales forman parte del universo, así que ¿por qué iba a esperar que cumplieran con su deseo?

Señor, concédeme serenidad para aceptar todo aquello que no puedo cambiar, fortaleza para cambiar lo que soy capaz de cambiar, y sabiduría para entender la diferencia.

all types of virtue are really just different aspects of wisdom.

For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert; but for every fact there is not necessarily an equal and opposite fact. —Thomas Sowell, American economist