The individual is not a killer, but the group is, and by identifying with it the individual is transformed into read more

The individual is not a killer, but the group is, and by identifying with it the individual is transformed into a killer.

And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are read more

And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps.

The nineteenth century planted the words which the twentieth century ripened into the atrocities of Stalin and Hitler. There is read more

The nineteenth century planted the words which the twentieth century ripened into the atrocities of Stalin and Hitler. There is hardly an atrocity committed in the twentieth century that was not foreshadowed or even advocated by some noble man of words in the nineteenth.

The reason teaching has to go on is that children are not born human; they are made so.

The reason teaching has to go on is that children are not born human; they are made so.

Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation read more

Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in the self, or rather the rejection of the self. Dedication is the obverse side of self-rejection. Man alone is a religious animal because, as Montaigne points out, "it is a malady confined to man, and not seen in any other creature, to hate and despise ourselves.".

Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.

Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.

The several sorts of religion in the world are little more than so many spiritual monopolies.

The several sorts of religion in the world are little more than so many spiritual monopolies.

We have no claim to share in the glory of our ancestors unless we strive to resemble them.

We have no claim to share in the glory of our ancestors unless we strive to resemble them.

Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail

Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail