Sociological method as we practice it rests wholly on the basic principle that social facts must be studied as things, that is, as realities external to the individual. There is no principle for which we have received more criticism; but none is more fundamental. Indubitably for sociology to be possible, it must above all have an object all its own. It must take cognizance of a reality which is not in the domain of other sciences... there can be no sociology unless societies exist, and that societies cannot exist if there are only individuals.

A society whose members are united by the fact that they think in the same way in regard to the sacred world and its relations with the profane world, and by the fact that they translate these common ideas into common practices, is what is called a Church. In all history, we do not find a single religion without a Church.

Melancholy suicide. - This is connected with a general state of extreme depression and exaggerated sadness, causing the patient no longer to realize sanely the bonds which connect him with people and things about him. Pleasures no longer attract.

The man whose whole activity is diverted to inner meditation becomes insensible to all his surroundings.

It is only by historical analysis that we can discover what makes up man, since it is only in the course of history that he is formed.

Each new generation is reared by its predecessor; the latter must therefore improve in order to improve its successor. The movement is circular.

By definition, sacred beings are separated beings. That which characterizes them is that there is a break of continuity between them and the profane beings.