"The relationship between a civilization's socio-economic structure and its culture is perhaps the most complicated of all problems for the sociologist."

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“Television, as the most "public" of media, has its limits.”

“The discussion of any society risks seduction by what is transient and tumultuous.”

“Every society seeks to establish a set of meanings through which people can relate themselves to the world.”

“Crime is a form of "unorganized" class struggle, and the lowest groups in the society have always committed a disproportionate number of crimes.”

“That fabulous polymath Samuel Johnson maintained that no man in his right mind ever read a book through from beginning to end.”

“Religions grow out of the deepest needs of individuals sharing a common awakening, and are not created by "engineers of the soul.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Economic growth occurs if output grows faster than population. Given the described assumptions about the way people behave, economic growth will occur if property rights make it worthwhile to undertak…"

— Douglass North

Economics1920–2015

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"Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the crimes, follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother's wombs, and there would be nobody in the world…"

— Daniel Handler

Literature1970

#family

"Video excerpts from a televised debate between Edward Teller and Linus Pauling, Fallout and Disarmament"

— Edward Teller

Science1908–2003

#war

"The expression "Making a mountain out of a molehill" simply means making a big deal out of something that is actually a small deal, and it is easy to see how this expression came about. Molehills are …"

— Daniel Handler

Literature1970

#nature