Convenience makes our lives easier, and it lets us enjoy some of the finer things in life. But is that the whole story—can conve­nience go too far?

It’s a useful concept that deserves to be in everyone’s mental toolbox. If both sides of a debate adhere to it, that levels the playing field for a true exchange of ideas, instead of a battle of opin­ions.

Anyone who wants to call them­selves a philoso­pher should at the very least be engaged in the pursuit of knowl­edge and wisdom, and a deeper under­standing of the human condi­tion.

You can learn things from reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being that you would never glean from any scien­tific trac­tate. And you can see things through the Hubble tele­scope that no amount of poetry could ever disclose.

A good poem is laparo­scopic surgery for the mind: it only requires a tiny point of entry, but once it gets under your skin it can trans­form you.

Life is a series of events and choices; you can’t control the events, but you do have a say about the choices you make.