To abandon the principle of simplicity would be to abandon all reasoning about the external world

- Jim Holt

When you are trying to understand the world, it is unwise to assume that you occupy a privileged position in it.

- Jim Holt

It has been said that the question, 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' is so profound that it would occur only to a metaphysician, yet so …

- Jim Holt

Suppose you turn your attention inward in search of this 'I'. You may encounter nothing more than an ever changing stream of consciousness, a flow of…

- Jim Holt

Having just enough life to enjoy being dead.

- Jim Holt

You have to have a temperamental attraction to dangerous ideas.

- Jim Holt

Jokes often arise involuntarily, like dreams, and tend to be swiftly forgotten. From these similarities Freud inferred that jokes and dreams share a …

- Jim Holt