The mind of the polyglot is a very particular thing, and scientists are only beginning to look closely at how acquiring a second language influences learning, behavior and the very structure of the brain itself.

We are all born with an innate understanding of interpersonal equity - the idea that if you lend me your rake today, I'll respond in kind when you come to borrow my shovel tomorrow. Or nearly all of us are born with that. Psychopaths aren't.

There are a lot of obstacles in the way of our understanding animal intelligence - not the least being that we can't even agree whether nonhuman species are conscious. We accept that chimps and dolphins experience awareness; we like to think dogs and cats do. But what about mice and newts? What about a fly? Is anything going on there at all?

Learning to speak was the most remarkable thing you ever did.

All of us in the Ball family in South Carolina, from the time we're children, hear stories about our ancestors, the slave owners.

No parent should have their child die before he or she does.

After kids, the desire to improve as an actor remains, but time becomes hugely important. I want to do good work and do it well but then be at home. I love hanging out with my children, seeing how they behave, and stealing ideas off them. You can't do that if you're in a hotel, on a plane, or a film set. It's not real life.

My dad was born in Chicago in 1908... his parents came from Russia. They settled in Chicago, where they lived in a little tiny grocery store with eight or nine children - in the backroom all together - and my grandmother got the idea to go into the movie business.