"It’s important to remember that Holmes wasn’t born Holmes. Holmes was born like you and me but probably with greater potential for certain elements of observation, but he learned over time to think like Sherlock Holmes." -Author Maria Konnikova, from her Big Think Interview

Author Jeffrey Kluger describes how even Gandhi and MLK exhibited narcissistic behaviors in his recent Big Think Interview.

"I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. They are the real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them." Christopher Reeve would have been 62-years-old yesterday. Next month will mark the ten-year anniversary of his death.

The former wrestler shares how he was basically illiterate at age 30, a sufferer of dyslexia. It was an untamed drive to learn (and a little help from Lee Iacocca) that helped him overcome this disability.

Paul Taylor is the executive vice-president of special projects at the Pew Research Center and author of the book The Next America. An expert in demographic, social and generational research, Taylor recently visited Big Think to discuss the millennial generation.

"Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors."

"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil."

Kluger discusses why narcissists excel in politics and rates the narcissism of those who have called the White House home.

"Think not the bigotry of another is any excuse for your own." -John Wesley, English preacher and co-founder of the Methodist movement  

It's not for sex; it's for affirmation, says the marriage expert Schmuley Boteach. Men cheat, by and large, because they feel like failures. They stray because they seek an outside arbiter. They need someone not their wife or partner  to proclaim them worthy.  

Have you been watching The Roosevelts on PBS? Big Think Expert Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses Theodore Roosevelt's "bully pulpit."

Neuroscientist and author Sam Harris discusses a form of spirituality founded on science and reason.

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

"In the information age, you don't teach philosophy as they did after feudalism. You perform it. If Aristotle were alive today he'd have a talk show." -Timothy Leary

The retired congressman discusses his long history as a supporter of marijuana legalization.

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends."  - Maya Angelou, from Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993)  

According to Duolingo founder Luis von Ahn, 800 million poor people around the world are trying to learn English to better themselves and improve their economic conditions. But most language lessons are expensive. His solution: Duolingo, a free app that runs on smartphones and computers.

Consciousness is what it's like and how it feels to be you. Thus, consciousness exists in a realm of irreducible subjectivity with which science isn't always comfortable.

Professional skateboarder Chris Cole explains how the sport channels a unique form of creativity that also contributes to the industry's success as a whole.

"As a child I was taught that to tell the truth was often painful. As an adult I have learned that not to tell the truth is more painful, and that the fear of telling the truth — whatever the truth may be — that fear is the most painful sensation of a moral life."