Steven Pinker Quotes

You can't deny your limitations.

If I only had a little humility, I would be perfect.

I've learned that it's OK to be flawed.

I'll tell you what I did need to learn was tolerance, and I think I've been actually given a daily opportunity to practice that, and it's - it's - and I know that that sounds almost like a backhanded slap, and it is in a way because I haven't been successful at it every day.

I have labored carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate, but to understand human actions

I'm not claiming divinity. I've never claimed purity of soul. I've never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can... But I still believe in peace, love and understanding.

I want to be able to show people that I have flaws and they have flaws, too. And you know what that means? No one out there is perfect.

I don't want to sound self-righteous, and I don't want to act like I have it all put together.

Remember, you're not always the professional.

I don't pretend to be perfect.

I just want people to remember I'm not perfect. I just try to lead with love every day.

Characters, like people, don't need to be right - only understood and, perhaps, accepted. We are all grey, lighter and darker, depending on our state of security.

Humility is a super-important factor in all of our lives, and I try to remind myself every evening in front of the mirror, 'Just calm down.'

For me, everyone has good and bad qualities. I feel you must not always look at the bad qualities but also focus on the good ones, because we all have flaws.

You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is that you make allowances for others - that you cleanse yourself of the sin of self-righteousness.

Were we faultless, we would not derive such satisfaction from remarking the faults of others.

Everybody has parts of themselves that they're not 100% happy with - that's what makes you human. And being an actor, your job is to play human beings. Your job is to play real people.

I guess the verdict is in - I am not a sociopath. It's not effective or productive not to be nice. It would undermine the goals I want to achieve on any given day.

I guess you could say that no matter what the characters are enduring, I try to make them retain their humanity. Their self-absorbed, grouchy, selfish, aggravating humanity.

We would not be interested in human beings if we did not have the hope of someday meeting someone worse off than ourselves.

The leader who exercises power with honor will work from the inside out, starting with himself.

To me, having the courage to tell your own story goes hand in hand with having the curiosity and humility to listen to others' stories.

I can tell you character traits I admire and work to develop in myself - perseverance, self-discipline, courage to stand up for what is right even when it is against one's friends or one's self.

The person is always happy who is in the presence of something they cannot know in full. A person as advanced far in the study of morals who has mastered the difference between pride and vanity.

Real men know how to listen, and real men know how to be honest.