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Top 30 Edward Slingerland Quotes (2025 Update)

Edward Slingerland Quote: “People who are in wu-wei has de, typically translated as “virtue,” “power,” or “charismatic power.” De is radiance that others can detect, and it serves as an outward signal that one is in wu-wei.”

1. “People who are in wu-wei has de, typically translated as “virtue,” “power,” or “charismatic power.” De is radiance that others can detect, and it serves as an outward signal that one is in wu-wei.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Thinking that you are good can make you bad. Talking about positive behavior can encourage negative behavior. Laozi is clearly on to something when he warns us that consciously trying to be righteous will, in fact, turn us into insufferable hypocrites and that anyone striving to attain virtue is destined to fail.”

2. “Thinking that you are good can make you bad. Talking about positive behavior can encourage negative behavior. Laozi is clearly on to something when he warns us that consciously trying to be righteous will, in fact, turn us into insufferable hypocrites and that anyone striving to attain virtue is destined to fail.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Let alone, without the help of or hot cognition, cold cognition is simply paralyzed by choice.”

3. “Let alone, without the help of or hot cognition, cold cognition is simply paralyzed by choice.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “The conscious mind, ungrounded by the wisdom of the body, is remarkably incapable of taking care of business.”

4. “The conscious mind, ungrounded by the wisdom of the body, is remarkably incapable of taking care of business.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Three cups only do I propose for sensible men, one for health, the second for love and pleasure and the third for sleep; when this has been drunk up, wise guests make for home. The fourth cup is mine no longer, but belongs to hubris; the fifth to shouting; the sixth to revel; the seventh to black eyes; the eighth to summonses; the ninth to bile; and the tenth to madness and people tossing the furniture about.”

5. “Three cups only do I propose for sensible men, one for health, the second for love and pleasure and the third for sleep; when this has been drunk up, wise guests make for home. The fourth cup is mine no longer, but belongs to hubris; the fifth to shouting; the sixth to revel; the seventh to black eyes; the eighth to summonses; the ninth to bile; and the tenth to madness and people tossing the furniture about.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “If with water you fill up your glasses You’ll never write anything wise But wine is the horse of Parnassus That carries a bard to the skies.”

6. “If with water you fill up your glasses You’ll never write anything wise But wine is the horse of Parnassus That carries a bard to the skies.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “The British anthropologist Robin Dunbar represents one exception to the otherwise typical neglect of intoxication. Dunbar and his colleagues see the physiological effects of alcohol, in particular, as a crucial component in social rituals. Specifically, they point to the endorphin release triggered by booze, especially when drinking is combined with music, dance, and ritual, as a crucial factor allowing humans to cooperate on a scale unattainable by our monkey or ape relatives.”

7. “The British anthropologist Robin Dunbar represents one exception to the otherwise typical neglect of intoxication. Dunbar and his colleagues see the physiological effects of alcohol, in particular, as a crucial component in social rituals. Specifically, they point to the endorphin release triggered by booze, especially when drinking is combined with music, dance, and ritual, as a crucial factor allowing humans to cooperate on a scale unattainable by our monkey or ape relatives.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Even in the most low-tech societies, however, humans are completely helpless without tools and the creative insights that generate them. We need creativity simply to function.”

8. “Even in the most low-tech societies, however, humans are completely helpless without tools and the creative insights that generate them. We need creativity simply to function.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Given that the pre-frontal cortex is a key to our success as a species, consuming any amount of alcohol or other intoxicant seems really stupid.”

9. “Given that the pre-frontal cortex is a key to our success as a species, consuming any amount of alcohol or other intoxicant seems really stupid.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “The more the frontal cortex matures, the less flexible our cognition becomes. The PFC, while key for remaining on task and delaying gratification, is the deadly enemy of creativity. It allows us to remain laser-focused on task but blinds us to remote possibilities. Both creativity and learning new associations require a relaxation of cognitive control that allows the mind to wander.”

10. “The more the frontal cortex matures, the less flexible our cognition becomes. The PFC, while key for remaining on task and delaying gratification, is the deadly enemy of creativity. It allows us to remain laser-focused on task but blinds us to remote possibilities. Both creativity and learning new associations require a relaxation of cognitive control that allows the mind to wander.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “If you tasked a cultural engineering team with designing a substance that would satisfy specs aimed at maximizing individual creativity and group cooperation, they would come up with something very much like alcohol.”

11. “If you tasked a cultural engineering team with designing a substance that would satisfy specs aimed at maximizing individual creativity and group cooperation, they would come up with something very much like alcohol.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Our desire for alcohol is not an evolutionary mistake. There are good reasons for why we get drunk.”

12. “Our desire for alcohol is not an evolutionary mistake. There are good reasons for why we get drunk.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Our dependence on culture means that our minds need to be open to others, so that we can learn from them.”

13. “Our dependence on culture means that our minds need to be open to others, so that we can learn from them.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Because of the distinctive adaptive challenges we face as a species, we require a way to inject controlled doses of chaos into our lives.”

14. “Because of the distinctive adaptive challenges we face as a species, we require a way to inject controlled doses of chaos into our lives.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “It should puzzle us more than it does that one of the greatest foci of human ingenuity and concentrated effort over the past millennia has been the problem of how to get drunk.”

15. “It should puzzle us more than it does that one of the greatest foci of human ingenuity and concentrated effort over the past millennia has been the problem of how to get drunk.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Humans transform the world through our creative technologies, and we cannot survive without them.”

16. “Humans transform the world through our creative technologies, and we cannot survive without them.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Intoxication is an antidote to cognitive control, a way to temporarily hamstring that opponent to creativity, cultural openness, and communal bonding.”

17. “Intoxication is an antidote to cognitive control, a way to temporarily hamstring that opponent to creativity, cultural openness, and communal bonding.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “If we have to translate it, wu-wei is probably best rendered as something like “effortless action” or spontaneous action.”

18. “If we have to translate it, wu-wei is probably best rendered as something like “effortless action” or spontaneous action.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “As the developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik and her colleagues have observed, general intelligence, behavioral flexibility, ability to solve novel problems, and a reliance on learning from others tends to roughly correlate with an extended period of helpless immaturity.13 This relationship is found across a broad range of animals, including birds and mammals, suggesting that it tracks a fundamental evolutionary trade-off between narrow competence and creative flexibility.”

19. “As the developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik and her colleagues have observed, general intelligence, behavioral flexibility, ability to solve novel problems, and a reliance on learning from others tends to roughly correlate with an extended period of helpless immaturity.13 This relationship is found across a broad range of animals, including birds and mammals, suggesting that it tracks a fundamental evolutionary trade-off between narrow competence and creative flexibility.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “After a glass or two, your attention is narrowed to only the immediate surroundings. You meander unpredictably, more free to follow wherever the conversation might take you. You feel happy and unconcerned about future consequences. Your motor skills are rubbish. On the other hand, if you speak a second language, you might find yourself suddenly a bit more confident and fluent. In other words, you are a child again, with all of the benefits and costs that come with stunting the PFC.”

20. “After a glass or two, your attention is narrowed to only the immediate surroundings. You meander unpredictably, more free to follow wherever the conversation might take you. You feel happy and unconcerned about future consequences. Your motor skills are rubbish. On the other hand, if you speak a second language, you might find yourself suddenly a bit more confident and fluent. In other words, you are a child again, with all of the benefits and costs that come with stunting the PFC.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “It must grace the festivity of the wedding; it must enliven the gloom of the funeral. It must cheer the intercourse of friends and enlighten the fatigue of labor. Success deserves a treat and disappointment needs it. The busy drink because they are busy; the idle because they have nothing else to do. The farmer must drink because his work is hard; the mechanic because his employment is sedentary and dull. It is warm, men drink to be cool; it is cool, they drink to be warm.27.”

21. “It must grace the festivity of the wedding; it must enliven the gloom of the funeral. It must cheer the intercourse of friends and enlighten the fatigue of labor. Success deserves a treat and disappointment needs it. The busy drink because they are busy; the idle because they have nothing else to do. The farmer must drink because his work is hard; the mechanic because his employment is sedentary and dull. It is warm, men drink to be cool; it is cool, they drink to be warm.27.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “The great power of adopting a scientific approach to human behavior is the ability to unmask deep puzzles about human existence that otherwise hide in plain sight.”

22. “The great power of adopting a scientific approach to human behavior is the ability to unmask deep puzzles about human existence that otherwise hide in plain sight.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Innovations are always necessarily gradual and incremental, building on the accumulated insights of past humans. We are the cultural animal par excellence, and our ability to share the products of our individual creativity and pass them on to future generations is the key to our ecological dominance.30.”

23. “Innovations are always necessarily gradual and incremental, building on the accumulated insights of past humans. We are the cultural animal par excellence, and our ability to share the products of our individual creativity and pass them on to future generations is the key to our ecological dominance.30.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Evolution is not stupid, and works much faster than most people realize.”

24. “Evolution is not stupid, and works much faster than most people realize.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “We also have to reevaluate the historic benefits of intoxication, at both the individual and group level, in light of the unprecedented threats that intoxicants pose in the modern world. The relatively recent innovations of distillation and social isolation entirely change intoxicants’ balance on the razor’s edge between order and chaos, creating novel dangers that we only dimly appreciate.”

25. “We also have to reevaluate the historic benefits of intoxication, at both the individual and group level, in light of the unprecedented threats that intoxicants pose in the modern world. The relatively recent innovations of distillation and social isolation entirely change intoxicants’ balance on the razor’s edge between order and chaos, creating novel dangers that we only dimly appreciate.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “In fact, one of Gopnik’s most important arguments is that this cognitive flexibility and creativity is a design feature of youth. She and her colleagues review evidence that suggests that when it comes to novel learning tasks, the young of many species often outperform their elders.20 This is certainly true of humans.”

26. “In fact, one of Gopnik’s most important arguments is that this cognitive flexibility and creativity is a design feature of youth. She and her colleagues review evidence that suggests that when it comes to novel learning tasks, the young of many species often outperform their elders.20 This is certainly true of humans.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “Human rulers get poisoned or decapitated or simply voted out of office all the time, as our set of personal desires, our chimpanzee DNA, rears its individualistic head.”

27. “Human rulers get poisoned or decapitated or simply voted out of office all the time, as our set of personal desires, our chimpanzee DNA, rears its individualistic head.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “At best, we base our thinking on disconnected facts or snippets of scientific knowledge uninformed by a broader evolutionary perspective.”

28. “At best, we base our thinking on disconnected facts or snippets of scientific knowledge uninformed by a broader evolutionary perspective.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “My central argument is that getting drunk, high, or otherwise cognitively.”

29. “My central argument is that getting drunk, high, or otherwise cognitively.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “The Gospel of Matthew declares, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” An early Chinese Daoist text, the Daodejing or Laozi, compares the perfected sage to an infant or small child, perfectly open and receptive to the world.”

30. “The Gospel of Matthew declares, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” An early Chinese Daoist text, the Daodejing or Laozi, compares the perfected sage to an infant or small child, perfectly open and receptive to the world.”

— Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland Quote: “We cannot properly grasp the dynamics of human social life unless we understand the role that intoxicants have played in making civilization possible.”

31. “We cannot properly grasp the dynamics of human social life unless we understand the role that intoxicants have played in making civilization possible.”

— Edward Slingerland

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