Ringing in the New Year: Professorial Style

Helen Vendler, Porter University Professor: “I’ve never believed in (or made) resolutions, being too much in favor of day-by-day freedom. ‘The river glideth at its own sweet will’ (Wordsworth).”



Daniel T. Gilbert, Harvard College Professor of Psychology: “I resolved to make only one resolution. And I also resolved to lose 5 pounds.”



N. Gregory Mankiw, Beren Professor of Economics: “I resolve to stop responding to queries from The Crimson. (Oops...already broken.)”



Howard Georgi ’67, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics: “I am afraid that my New Year’s resolution is just to make it through February! But more seriously, I have to keep reminding myself to stay positive and look for opportunities even in the difficult economic climate of Harvard today.”



Stephen Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology: “Resolutions and commitments of one’s own future behavior are a bit like one person coercing another, except that in this case the present self is trying to coerce the future self. Since Ulysses had his sailors tie him to the mast so he could hear the sirens’ song without steering the ship onto the rocks, people acting in the present have restricted or coerced their future selves for the benefit of those future selves. New Years’ resolutions don’t take the form of physical restraints like tying oneself up, but if the resolution is public, then one puts the credibility of one’s future self at stake – if your future self blows the resolution, you are calling yourself (your future self, that is) a liar.”