Intellectuals are not defined according to the jobs they do, but [by] the manner in which they act, the way they see themselves, and the values that they uphold.

Even in the most favourable periods for cultural development , Intellectuals tend to have uneasy relationship with the status quo.

I'm not one of those James Joyce intellectuals who can stand back and look at the whole edifice... It was a slow process for me to just crawl out of it, like a snake leaving his skin behind.

[Perhaps what we can learn from SARS is perspective.] There are very real threats, but they don't always have to follow a Hollywood disaster movie script, ... Flu epidemics do occur. It's part of our human experience. We've survived it before and we're in a much better position to deal with it now than ever before. We have ways to contain these things that would've been unthinkable even 10 years ago.

We are creating a new security state for children,

Parenting has become so intertwined with your identity that the way your child looks is seen as a direct extension of yourself. Having a particular buggy is a way of projecting your own desires and fantasies to the rest of the world.