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On the contrary, violence is often caused by a surfeit of morality and justice, at least as they are conceived in the minds of the perpetrators.

— Steven Pinker The Better Angels of our Nature (2011)

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Justice

More quotes by Steven Pinker

Status is the public knowledge that you possess assets that would allow you to help others if you wished to.

How the Mind Works (1997)

Genes are a play within a play, not the interior monologue of the players."

How the Mind Works (1997)

As an experimental psychologist, I have been trained not to believe anything unless it can be demonstrated in the laboratory on rats or sophomores.

Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language (1999)

Logicians tell us that a system of ideas containing a contradiction can be used to deduce any statement whatsoever, no matter how absurd.

I predict it will come to be seen as a turning point in the history of psychology.

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

If the church ... does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?

James H. Cone Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986)

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Muhammad

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Steven Pinker (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.