Harvard University Faculty

"It’s incumbent for assessments /about climate change/ to be as widely read as possible so that we understand this, so that members of the public can hold policymakers’ feet to the coals about making changes. There’s no good if we find out in 50 years’ time, they were being briefed on this. The stakes are too high for that."

"...Refugee crises or population displacement, and radicalization of people angry with their own government or willing to take action against countries that they regard as the big polluters. Scarce resources leading to political violence, terrorism — that’s the kind of secondary threat progression that the U.S. intelligence community will be looking at."

"Climate change and pandemics are linked; climate change will, scientists tell us, create more new disease outbreaks."

"I feel embarrassed to be an American today – this is disgraceful behaviour"

"The U.S. military’s been talking about rising sea levels on bases since the 1970s, if not earlier."

"“A very few geographical names appear to be inherited from Indo-Iranian times. For instance, OPers. Haraiva-, Av. (acc.) HarOiium, and OPers. HarauvatI, Av. HaraxvaitI-, both of which in historical times are located in the area of southern Afghanistan (Herat and Kandahar), correspond to the two Vedic rivers Sarayu and SarasvatI. These correspondences are interesting, but tell us nothing about the early geography of the Indo-Iranian tribes.”"

"Since the classical Greeks already, it has been common to date Zarathuštra to the 6th century BC, hardly a few generations before the Persian wars. In popular literature, this date is still given, but scholars have now settled for an earlier date: “The archaism of the Gāthās would incline us to situate Zarathuštra in the very beginning of the first millennium BCE, if not even earlier.” (Varenne 2006) But how much earlier? According to leading scholar SkjaervØ, “Zoroastrianism (…) originated some four millennia ago”."

"The Kremlin has managed to get a candidate who’s very favorable to itself in the White House. It is still slightly hypothetical, because we don’t know the results of the investigation, but the fact that [the FBI] started an investigation at all, and this question had to be asked at all, shows how weird and unprecedented this situation is."

"“the only sources for the early (pre-Achaemenid) history of the eastern Iranian peoples are the Avesta, the Old Persian inscriptions, and Herodotus. … In view of the dearth of historical sources it is of paramount importance that one should evalute the evidence of the Avesta, the holy book of the Zoroastrians, parts at least of which antedate the Old Persian inscriptions by several centuries.” ..."

"The KGB’s greatest attempt to meddle in U.S. presidential elections in the Cold War was against Ronald Reagan, whom the Kremlin regarded as the greatest single threat to the Soviet Union, which he probably was. So, in his various election bids, they did everything that they could, first, to undermine him, and second, to gather compromising material on him. They tried to dig up anything they could that would blacken his name, but they couldn’t find anything. And when that happened, they tried to do anything they could to support his opponents. Moscow sent a telegram to the KGB officers stationed in the U.S. saying essentially, “It doesn’t matter which party you get an agent in, Democrats or Republicans, but whoever it is must defeat Ronald Reagan.” None of this worked. Reagan won in a landslide. But the Kremlin’s strategy was clear: promote favorable candidates and undermine those hostile to Moscow."

"...Climate change is now fused with geopolitics."

"“Evidence either for the history of the Iranian tribes or their languages from the period following the separation of the Indian and Iranian tribes down to the early 1st millennium BC is sadly lacking. There are no written sources, and archaeologists are still working to fill out the picture.” ..."

"“The earliest mention of Iranians in historical sources is, paradoxically, of those settled on the Iranian plateau, not those still in Central Asia, their ancestral homeland. ‘Persians’ are first mentioned in the 9th century BC Assyrian annals: on one campaign, in 835 BC,… There are no literary sources for Iranians in Central Asia before the Old Persian inscriptions (Darius’s Bisotun inscription, 521-519 BC, ed. Schmitt) and Herodotus’ Histories (ca. 470 BC). ..."

"“The Cambridge History” has a clear applied-history spirit to it in that it’s trying to understand what’s going on today by looking to the past. That’s really what we’re trying to do."

"The pantheon was never eliminated, and Zoroastrianism, in some sense at least, remained a polytheistic religion throughout its history, although today the many deities have lost their individual divine character and are not worshipped for themselves but have been reinterpreted as allegories or symbols. Thus, modern Zoroastrianism is probably best described as monotheistic, certainly as monotheistic as Christianity with its Trinity and angels, though less monotheistic than Judaism and Islam."

"Zoroastrianism (…) originated some four millennia ago."

"“Two Young Avestan texts contain lists of countries known to their authors, YaSt 10 and VidEvdAd, Chapter 1. The two lists differ considerably in terms of composition and are therefore most probably independent of one another. Both lists contain only countries in northeastern Iran.” ...[All these places are] “located to the east of the Caspian Ocean, with the possible exception of Raga”."

"During my research on ghost tours in the South that included slavery as a theme, I found that many of these tours had characteristics in common, such as the romanticization of relationships between enslavers and the enslaved, the diminishment of the sexual abuse that enslaved Black women endured, a gratuitous focus on violence, an exoticization of Black faith traditions, and a demonization of white women. I would say that if tourists hear narratives about slavery that sound too easy-going to be true or too grotesque to be respectful of people’s lived experience, they are probably listening to exaggerated or fabricated narratives crafted to increase revenue rather than to educate the public."

"I look for strong female characters that are up against challenges but are OK in the end."

"It is indeed a delicate task to work with evidentiary sources as well as the imagination to interpret the past, but I would argue that historians do this all the time. We always bring our creative mental faculties to bear when reconstructing the past. We draw inferences from sources, speculate about cause and effect, and envision times and places that we can never experience directly. Some scholars (and I count myself among them!) enjoy the challenge of pushing this process further to write history in intentionally narrative ways and even to write fiction based on historical knowledge and primary sources."

"Whatever matters to human beings, trust is the atmosphere in which it thrives."

"When we undertake to deceive others intentionally, we communicate messages meant to mislead them, meant to make them believe what we ourselves do not believe. We can do so through gesture, through disguise, by means of action or inaction, even through silence."

"Honesty from health professionals matters more to patients than almost everything else that they experience when ill."

"Evil means, he insisted, corrupt and degrade not only the purposes for which they are undertaken but also the persons who stoop to such means. Overcoming the urge to resort to such means is hardest when one aims to rectify past injustices. It is because ‘hate the sin and not the sinner’ is a precept so rarely practiced that the poison of hatred spreads in the world."

"Trust and integrity are precious resources, easily squandered, hard to regain. They can thrive only on a foundation of respect for veracity."

"Any awareness of how lies spread must generate a real sensitivity to the fact that most lies believed to be white are unnecessary if not downright undesirable."

"Act only on the maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

"The role that one assigns to truthfulness will always remain central in considering what kind of person one wants to be—how one wishes to treat, not only other people, but oneself."

"The central focus of his medical research was to validate, and explain, the effects of ancient Indian systems repackaged as his proprietary Relaxation Response in scientific and technical language. For instance, the deep rest provided by the TM technique is renamed ‘a hypometabolic state of parasympathetic activation’. Given his clout, funding sources, and sponsorship from Christian institutions, such as the John Templeton Foundation (brought in as a board member), he succeeded in rebranding Maharishi’s distinctly Indian ideas as his own Benson Method. He became a significant bridge to bring the bounties of Indian mind sciences into Western frameworks and ownership."

"Benson traveled to India with the intent of adding Tibetan Buddhism ideas on to his own meditation system to make it seem different than TM. In 1980, when Benson and Wallace met in India, Benson pretended he had done no wrong, to the contrary claiming he had contributed to Indian spirituality by popularizing Maharishi’s ideas. Maharishi was asked several times about Benson’s plagiarism; he was aware of it but wanted Wallace and others to ignore it and not pursue the matter officially."

"The academic world as well as mainstream American media gave Benson complete credit for the discovery of the science of meditation. Seldom mentioned was its debt to Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation. In fact, Benson was credited for having ‘demystified meditation’ by removing the mantra that seemed threatening to many Judeo-Christian Americans. He made a fortune and a great career at Harvard selling these techniques acknowledging neither the Indian origin of the practices nor the Sanskrit-based theories and epistemologies that interpreted and explained the higher states of consciousness."

"A preoccupation with instrumental consequences renders a theory that accommodates economic premises yet sidesteps the underlying tensions between the social and economic imperatives that confront organisations. Such a theory risks omitting the pressing descriptive and normative questions raised by these tensions, which, when explored, might hold great promise for a new theory and even for addressing practical management challenges."

"Looking at the business corporation through something other than the eyes of its equity holders has inspired great efforts to translate that intuitive appeal into a theory... The promise of stakeholder theory to offer a cogent alternative to the economic account of the firm, however, is impeded by a set of assumptions designed to accommodate economic considerations."

"It was an awesome city - captivating, challenging, and endlessly fascinating - Banaras raised some of the questions about the Hindu tradition which have interested me ever since - its complex mythological imagination, its prodigious display of divine images, its elaborate ritual traditions, and its understanding of the relation of life and death. It was Banaras that turned me to the study of India and the Hindu religious tradition.""

"India presents to the visitor an overwhelmingly visual impression. It is beautiful, colorful, and sensuous. It is captivating and intriguing, repugnant and puzzling. It combines the intimacy and familiarity of English four o'clock tea with the dazzling foreignness of carpisoned elephants or vast crowds bathing in the Ganga during an eclipse. India's displays of multi-armed images, its processions and its pilgrimages, its beggars and Its kings, its street life and markets, its diversity of people - all appear to the eye in a kaleidoscope of images. Whatever Hindus affirm of the meaning of life, death, and suffering, they affirm with their eyes wide open."

"My hands-down favorite writer is my friend , and that's in large part because much of what I've learned about writing over the last couple of decades has come in the form of gifts from him. Carlo is an apostle of craft, skill, mastery, and work. He writes great prose, to be sure, but he has also taught me about blocking, outlining, editing, structure—all those things I pretended to do, but never actually did. Talking to Carlo, I am always reminded that craft itself produces ideas and insights, unbidden thoughts that transcend the nuts and bolts work. That's why we tell our students that writing is thinking, and that thinking may well be incomplete without writing."

"Writing is a learned and practiced craft, not a work of magic or mystery. Indeed, the magic happens when you are practicing the craft. Literary talent may be distributed unevenly, but no one is “born” a writer."

"I am incredibly proud that the new solicitor general is a Boisean. Elizabeth Prelogar is distinctly qualified for the position, having served in the solicitor general’s office for years and already argued before the Supreme Court nine times"

"Prelogar’s confirmation is not only timely, but also important to people like me who recognize the need for more women to serve our country throughout each branch of government"

"She's a spectacular lawyer with impeccable integrity and is ideal for this role in the Department."

"Federal government has to prioritize its efforts because it does not have the resources to pursue the 11 million undocumented "noncitizens" in the country."

"Make no mistake, it is impossible for DHS to comply with each and every ‘shall’ in the INA as truly a judicially enforceable duty, we wouldn’t have the resources or ability to go after those individuals who are threats to public safety, national security and border security"

"Applicant has never represented in any of his multiple legal filings in multiple courts that he in fact declassified any documents — much less supported such a representation with competent evidence"

"Learn your cases and your clients inside and out so that you have the whole picture in mind when crafting arguments."

"There isn’t a trade off between being an aggressive and successful advocate for your clients’ positions and treating others with respect."

"This is not about reducing enforcement of the immigration laws, it's about prioritizing limited resources to say go after Person A instead of Person B"

"We’re competitive we like to win but we don’t compete against each other. It’s been the perfect culture to try to build a Supreme Court and appellate practice."

"Are private clients willing to hire women to argue their Supreme Court cases? When there’s that kind of gross disparity in representation, it can matter and it’s common sense"

"Federal courts should not be transformed into open forums for each and every policy dispute between the states and the national government"

"I don't think it's ever too late for this Court to give the statute its proper construction when you actually look at its text, context, and history."