Sidney Morgenbesser

"Asked to prove a questioner's existence, Morgenbesser shot back, "Who's asking?"

"A proposed response to Heidegger's ontological query "Why is there something rather than nothing?" – "And if there were nothing? You'd still be complaining!"

"A student once interrupted him and said, "I just don't understand." He responded, "Why should you have the advantage over me?"

"Of Hilary Putnam – "He’s a quantum philosopher. I can’t understand him and his position at the same time."

"A few weeks before his death, he asked another Columbia philosopher, David Albert, about God. "Why is God making me suffer so much?" he asked. "Just because I don't believe in him?"

"During campus protests of the 1960s, Sidney Morgenbesser was hit on the head by police. When asked whether he had been treated unfairly or unjustly, he responded that it was "unjust, but not unfair. I…"

"Morgenbesser was leaving a subway station in New York City and put his pipe in his mouth as he was ascending the steps. A police officer told him that there was no smoking on the subway. Morgenbesser …"

"When asked his opinion of pragmatism, Morgenbesser replied "It's all very well in theory but it doesn't work in practice."