roughly 90 percent of songs have mating as their central theme, and this holds true regardless of cultural setting or historical period.

Hope is an elixir of life. It is the engine that propels us forward in our pursuit of countless goals, all of which might otherwise be impossible to undertake if we were bereft of hope.

humans have an evolved capacity to engage in self-deception in order to navigate through life in a delusional state of blissful ignorance.

the desperate need to belong is perhaps never as great as during adolescence. Advertisers seek to communicate with teenagers by frequently using that powerful appeal.

...These politically correct language initiatives are misguided and harmful. They create highly entitled professional “victims” who expect to be free from any offense, and they engender a stifling atmosphere where all individuals walk on eggshells lest they might commit a linguistic capital crime.

Litterature provides us with the opportunity to escape into fictional worlds that are ultimately rooted in human universals shaped by common biological forces.

The "us versus them" mindset coupled with our social nature implies that we have an innate need to belong to clearly defined in-groups.