Steven Pinker Quotes

The main thing is to know something and to say it.

If nobody said anything unless he knew what he was talking about, a ghastly hush would descend upon the earth.

I often regret that I have spoken; never that I have been silent.

Words build bridges into unexplored regions.

The more you know the less you need to say.

Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible.

You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.

Words are powerful. When I make mistakes I just try to come back and clarify what I meant.

Words are the money of fools.

The only thing you have to know are your words.

Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow.

Speak not of what you have read, but about what you have understood.

If intelligence is the triumph of life, the spoken word is the marvellous means by which this intelligence is manifested.

I've really learned to watch what I say.

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.

Some day...after I am dead, you may perhaps come to learn the right and wrong of this. I cannot tell you.

Remember what Simonides said, that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.

Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.

Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.

Some minds remain open long enough for the truth not only to enter but to pass on through by way of a ready exit without pausing anywhere along the route.

All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified.

Light is the symbol of truth.

To free a person from error is to give, and not to take away.

Understanding is nothing else than conception caused by speech.

The first point of wisdom is to discern that which is false; the second, to know that which is true.