Civilization is a social plague on the planet, and vices are just as necessary to it as is a virus to disease.

...commerce, which is mistakenly classified among the productive forms of work, ought to be ranked first among the parasitical professions like those of monk, soldier, lawyer etc.

Civilization is a social plague on the planet, and vices are just as necessary to it as is a virus to disease.

Despots prefer the friendship of the dog, who, unjustly mistreated and debased, still loves and serves the man who wronged him.

Who is wiser: the man who plants flowers along life's way or the man who makes it bristle with thorns?

We must, then, apply the principle of Doubt to Civilization; we must doubt its necessity, its excellence, and its permanence.

Certainly in each social period, youth must be made to venerate the dominant absurdities.