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Top 500 Steven Pinker Quotes (2026 Update)
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Steven Pinker Quote: “One way to drive home the futility and evil of war is to tap the distancing power of satire.”

201. “One way to drive home the futility and evil of war is to tap the distancing power of satire.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “The first step toward wisdom is the realization that the laws of the universe don’t care about you. The next is the realization that this does not imply that life is meaningless, because people care about you, and vice versa.”

202. “The first step toward wisdom is the realization that the laws of the universe don’t care about you. The next is the realization that this does not imply that life is meaningless, because people care about you, and vice versa.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Something about the topic of consciousness makes people, like the White Queen in Through The Looking Glass, believe six impossible things before breakfast.”

203. “Something about the topic of consciousness makes people, like the White Queen in Through The Looking Glass, believe six impossible things before breakfast.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Psychologists have long known that people tend to see their own lives through rose-colored glasses: they think they’re less likely than the average person to become the victim of a divorce, layoff, accident, illness, or crime. But change the question from the people’s lives to their society, and they transform from Pollyanna to Eeyore.”

204. “Psychologists have long known that people tend to see their own lives through rose-colored glasses: they think they’re less likely than the average person to become the victim of a divorce, layoff, accident, illness, or crime. But change the question from the people’s lives to their society, and they transform from Pollyanna to Eeyore.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Plato said that we are trapped inside a cave and know the world only through the shadows it casts on the wall. The skull is our cave, and mental representations are the shadows.”

205. “Plato said that we are trapped inside a cave and know the world only through the shadows it casts on the wall. The skull is our cave, and mental representations are the shadows.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Aggression, like every other part of human behavior we take for granted, is a challenging engineering problem!”

206. “Aggression, like every other part of human behavior we take for granted, is a challenging engineering problem!”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “The best words not only pinpoint an idea better than any alternative but echo it in their sound and articulation, a phenomenon called phonesthetics, the feeling of sound.”

207. “The best words not only pinpoint an idea better than any alternative but echo it in their sound and articulation, a phenomenon called phonesthetics, the feeling of sound.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “The stirrings of morality emerge early in childhood. Toddlers spontaneously offer toys and help to others and try to comfort people they see in distress.”

208. “The stirrings of morality emerge early in childhood. Toddlers spontaneously offer toys and help to others and try to comfort people they see in distress.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Language pedants hew to an oral tradition of shibboleths that have no basis in logic or style, that have been defied by great writers for centuries, and that have been disavowed by every thoughtful usage manual.”

209. “Language pedants hew to an oral tradition of shibboleths that have no basis in logic or style, that have been defied by great writers for centuries, and that have been disavowed by every thoughtful usage manual.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “According to a recent study of the brains of identical and fraternal twins, differences in the amount of gray matter in the frontal lobes are not only genetically influenced but are significantly correlated with differences in intelligence.”

210. “According to a recent study of the brains of identical and fraternal twins, differences in the amount of gray matter in the frontal lobes are not only genetically influenced but are significantly correlated with differences in intelligence.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “If we are not to abandon values such as peace and equality, or our commitments to science and truth, then we must pry these values away from claims about our psychological makeup that are vulnerable to being proven false.”

211. “If we are not to abandon values such as peace and equality, or our commitments to science and truth, then we must pry these values away from claims about our psychological makeup that are vulnerable to being proven false.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “If you have to silence people who disagree with you, does that mean you have no good arguments for why they’re mistaken?”

212. “If you have to silence people who disagree with you, does that mean you have no good arguments for why they’re mistaken?”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “For example, parents who talk a lot to their children have kids with better language skills, parents who spank have children who grow up to be violent, parents who are neither too authoritarian or too lenient have children who are well-adjusted, and so on.”

213. “For example, parents who talk a lot to their children have kids with better language skills, parents who spank have children who grow up to be violent, parents who are neither too authoritarian or too lenient have children who are well-adjusted, and so on.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “There’s guilt about our treatment of native peoples in modern intellectual life, and an unwillingness to acknowledge there could be anything good about Western culture.”

214. “There’s guilt about our treatment of native peoples in modern intellectual life, and an unwillingness to acknowledge there could be anything good about Western culture.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Two other illusions mislead us into thinking that things ain’t what they used to be: we mistake the growing burdens of maturity and parenthood for a less innocent world, and we mistake a decline in our own faculties for a decline in the times.”

215. “Two other illusions mislead us into thinking that things ain’t what they used to be: we mistake the growing burdens of maturity and parenthood for a less innocent world, and we mistake a decline in our own faculties for a decline in the times.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis.”

216. “Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Racism, because it favors color over talent, is bad for business.”

217. “Racism, because it favors color over talent, is bad for business.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “So what’s in a name? The answer, we have seen, is, a great deal. In the sense of a morphological product, a name is an intricate structure, elegantly assembled by layers of rules and lawful even at its quirkiest. And in the sense of a listeme, a name is a pure symbol, part of a cast of thousands, rapidly acquired because of a harmony between the mind of the child, the mind of the adult, and the texture of reality.”

218. “So what’s in a name? The answer, we have seen, is, a great deal. In the sense of a morphological product, a name is an intricate structure, elegantly assembled by layers of rules and lawful even at its quirkiest. And in the sense of a listeme, a name is a pure symbol, part of a cast of thousands, rapidly acquired because of a harmony between the mind of the child, the mind of the adult, and the texture of reality.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Commerce, trade and exchange make other people more valuable alive than dead, and mean that people try to anticipate what the other guy needs and wants. It engages the mechanisms of reciprocal altruism, as the evolutionary biologists call it, as opposed to raw dominance.”

219. “Commerce, trade and exchange make other people more valuable alive than dead, and mean that people try to anticipate what the other guy needs and wants. It engages the mechanisms of reciprocal altruism, as the evolutionary biologists call it, as opposed to raw dominance.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Theories of art carry the seeds of their own destruction.”

220. “Theories of art carry the seeds of their own destruction.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “The moral, then, is that familiar categories of behavior – marriage customs, food taboos, folk superstitions, and so on – certainly do vary across cultures and have to be learned, but the deeper mechanisms of mental computation that generate them may be universal and innate.”

221. “The moral, then, is that familiar categories of behavior – marriage customs, food taboos, folk superstitions, and so on – certainly do vary across cultures and have to be learned, but the deeper mechanisms of mental computation that generate them may be universal and innate.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Left-wing and right-wing political ideologies have themselves become secular religions, providing people with a community of like-minded brethren, a catechism of sacred beliefs, a well-populated demonology, and a beatific confidence in the righteousness of their cause.”

222. “Left-wing and right-wing political ideologies have themselves become secular religions, providing people with a community of like-minded brethren, a catechism of sacred beliefs, a well-populated demonology, and a beatific confidence in the righteousness of their cause.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Journalists sometimes speculate about “brain transplants” when they really should be calling them “body transplants,” because, as the philosopher Dan Dennett has noted, this is the one transplant operation in which it is better to be the donor than the recipient.”

223. “Journalists sometimes speculate about “brain transplants” when they really should be calling them “body transplants,” because, as the philosopher Dan Dennett has noted, this is the one transplant operation in which it is better to be the donor than the recipient.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “People see violence as moral, not immoral: across the world and throughout history, more people have been murdered to mete out justice than to satisfy greed.”

224. “People see violence as moral, not immoral: across the world and throughout history, more people have been murdered to mete out justice than to satisfy greed.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “A common man marvels at uncommon things; a wise man marvels at the commonplace.”

225. “A common man marvels at uncommon things; a wise man marvels at the commonplace.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Syntax overrides carbon dioxide.”

226. “Syntax overrides carbon dioxide.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “The doctrine of a soul that outlives the body is anything but righteous, because it necessarily devalues the lives we live on this earth.”

227. “The doctrine of a soul that outlives the body is anything but righteous, because it necessarily devalues the lives we live on this earth.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Thomas Jefferson explained the power of language with the help of an analogy: “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.”30.”

228. “Thomas Jefferson explained the power of language with the help of an analogy: “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.”30.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Probably Hobbes got it right when he said that a leviathan, a third party with a monopoly on the use of legitimate use of force in a territory, might be among the biggest violence reduction techniques ever invented.”

229. “Probably Hobbes got it right when he said that a leviathan, a third party with a monopoly on the use of legitimate use of force in a territory, might be among the biggest violence reduction techniques ever invented.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “We often feel that a clever aphorism captures a truth that would require pages to defend in any other way.”

230. “We often feel that a clever aphorism captures a truth that would require pages to defend in any other way.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “The case against bigotry is not a factual claim that humans are biologically indistinguishable. It is a moral stance that condemns judging an individual according to the average traits of certain groups to which the individual belongs.”

231. “The case against bigotry is not a factual claim that humans are biologically indistinguishable. It is a moral stance that condemns judging an individual according to the average traits of certain groups to which the individual belongs.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “The view that humans are passive receptacles of stereotypes, words, and images is condescending to ordinary people and gives unearned importance to the pretensions of cultural and academic elites.”

232. “The view that humans are passive receptacles of stereotypes, words, and images is condescending to ordinary people and gives unearned importance to the pretensions of cultural and academic elites.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Golden Rule has been rediscovered many times: by the authors of Leviticus and the Mahabharata; by Hillel, Jesus, and Confucius; by the Stoic philosophers of the Roman Empire; by social contract theorists such as Hobbes, Rousseau, and Locke; and by moral philosophers such as Kant in his categorical imperative.”

233. “Golden Rule has been rediscovered many times: by the authors of Leviticus and the Mahabharata; by Hillel, Jesus, and Confucius; by the Stoic philosophers of the Roman Empire; by social contract theorists such as Hobbes, Rousseau, and Locke; and by moral philosophers such as Kant in his categorical imperative.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “All of the violence that doesn’t occur doesn’t get reported on the news.”

234. “All of the violence that doesn’t occur doesn’t get reported on the news.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Poverty needs no explanation; it is the natural state of humankind. What needs an explanation is wealth.”

235. “Poverty needs no explanation; it is the natural state of humankind. What needs an explanation is wealth.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Everything in human affairs is connected to everything else, and that is especially true of violence. Across time and space, the more peaceable societies also tend to be richer, healthier, better educated, better governed, more respectful of their women, and more likely to engage in trade.”

236. “Everything in human affairs is connected to everything else, and that is especially true of violence. Across time and space, the more peaceable societies also tend to be richer, healthier, better educated, better governed, more respectful of their women, and more likely to engage in trade.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Man has no nature; what he has is history.”

237. “Man has no nature; what he has is history.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “If people are innately saddled with certain sins and flaws, like selfishness, prejudice, sort-sightedness, and self-deception, then political reform would seem to be a waste of time.”

238. “If people are innately saddled with certain sins and flaws, like selfishness, prejudice, sort-sightedness, and self-deception, then political reform would seem to be a waste of time.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Leaders began to profess their love of peace and to claim that war had been forced upon them.118 As Mueller notes, “No longer was it possible simply and honestly to proclaim like Julius Caesar, ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ Gradually this was changed to ‘I came, I saw, he attacked me while I was just standing there looking, I won.’ This might be seen as progress.”119.”

239. “Leaders began to profess their love of peace and to claim that war had been forced upon them.118 As Mueller notes, “No longer was it possible simply and honestly to proclaim like Julius Caesar, ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ Gradually this was changed to ‘I came, I saw, he attacked me while I was just standing there looking, I won.’ This might be seen as progress.”119.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Students do everything on laptops these days, so I definitely think electronic books are a trend that’s going to expand.”

240. “Students do everything on laptops these days, so I definitely think electronic books are a trend that’s going to expand.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to compute it.”

241. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to compute it.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Classic writing, with its assumption of equality between writer and reader, makes the reader feel like a genius. Bad writing makes the reader feel like a dunce.”

242. “Classic writing, with its assumption of equality between writer and reader, makes the reader feel like a genius. Bad writing makes the reader feel like a dunce.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Technology, ideology, and social and cultural changes periodically throw out new forms of violence for humanity to contend with.”

243. “Technology, ideology, and social and cultural changes periodically throw out new forms of violence for humanity to contend with.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “There is a joke about a little girl who is filling in a hole in her garden when a neighbor looks over the fence. He politely asks, “Hi! What are you up to?” “My goldfish died,” replies the girl tearfully, “and I’ve just buried him.” The neighbor asks, “Isn’t that an awfully big hole for a goldfish?” The little girl tamps down the soil and replies, “That’s because he’s inside your stupid cat.”

244. “There is a joke about a little girl who is filling in a hole in her garden when a neighbor looks over the fence. He politely asks, “Hi! What are you up to?” “My goldfish died,” replies the girl tearfully, “and I’ve just buried him.” The neighbor asks, “Isn’t that an awfully big hole for a goldfish?” The little girl tamps down the soil and replies, “That’s because he’s inside your stupid cat.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “A similar semianarchy burst out in parts of Central Asia and the Balkans in the 1990s, when the communist federations that had ruled them for decades suddenly unraveled. One Bosnian Croat explained why ethnic violence erupted only after the breakup of Yugoslavia: “We lived in peace and harmony because every hundred meters we had a policeman to make sure we loved each other very much.”33.”

245. “A similar semianarchy burst out in parts of Central Asia and the Balkans in the 1990s, when the communist federations that had ruled them for decades suddenly unraveled. One Bosnian Croat explained why ethnic violence erupted only after the breakup of Yugoslavia: “We lived in peace and harmony because every hundred meters we had a policeman to make sure we loved each other very much.”33.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Five Amazing Pieces of Good News Nobody Is Reporting,” “Five Reasons Why 2013 Was the Best Year in Human History,” “Seven Reasons the World Looks Worse Than It Really Is,” “26 Charts and Maps That Show the World Is Getting Much, Much Better,” “40 Ways the World Is Getting Better,” and my favorite, “50 Reasons We’re Living Through the Greatest Period in World History.” Let’s look at some of those reasons. CHAPTER 5 LIFE.”

246. “Five Amazing Pieces of Good News Nobody Is Reporting,” “Five Reasons Why 2013 Was the Best Year in Human History,” “Seven Reasons the World Looks Worse Than It Really Is,” “26 Charts and Maps That Show the World Is Getting Much, Much Better,” “40 Ways the World Is Getting Better,” and my favorite, “50 Reasons We’re Living Through the Greatest Period in World History.” Let’s look at some of those reasons. CHAPTER 5 LIFE.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “There is no society ever discovered in the remotest corner of the world that has not had something that we would consider the arts. Visual arts – decoration of surfaces and bodies – appears to be a human universal.”

247. “There is no society ever discovered in the remotest corner of the world that has not had something that we would consider the arts. Visual arts – decoration of surfaces and bodies – appears to be a human universal.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “Morality comes from a commitment to treat other as we wish to be treated, which follows from the realization that none of us is the sole occupant of the universe.”

248. “Morality comes from a commitment to treat other as we wish to be treated, which follows from the realization that none of us is the sole occupant of the universe.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “John Dryden wrote that a work of fiction is “a just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind.”

249. “John Dryden wrote that a work of fiction is “a just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind.”

— Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker Quote: “The Moralization Gap is part of a larger phenomenon called self-serving biases. People try to look good. “Good” can mean effective, potent, desirable, and competent, or it can mean virtuous, honest, generous, and altruistic.”

250. “The Moralization Gap is part of a larger phenomenon called self-serving biases. People try to look good. “Good” can mean effective, potent, desirable, and competent, or it can mean virtuous, honest, generous, and altruistic.”

— Steven Pinker

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