Robert Sapolsky

It can be far more than a mere academic matter when a scientist thinks that human behavior can be entirely explained from only one perspective.

When it’s the “right” type of aggression, we love it.

we use the same muscles as does a male chimp attacking a sexual competitor, but we use them to harm someone because of their ideology.

While a few other species have regular nonreproductive sex, we’re the only ones to talk afterward about how it was.

Then there’s another version of “This isn’t personal”—targeting someone just because they’re weak and you’re frustrated, stressed, or pained and need to displace some aggression.

Can you ever separate doing good from the expectation of reciprocity, public acclaim, self-esteem, or the promise of paradise?

The opposite of love is not hate; its opposite is indifference

Which reminds us that we don’t hate aggression; we hate the wrong kind of aggression but love it in the right context.

with the usual advantages and disadvantages of categorizing a continuum.

the result is more oxygen and glucose for the muscles.