It is too great comfort which turns a man against himself. Life is most readily renounced at the time and among the classes where it is least harsh.
Emile DurkheimMen have been obliged to make for themselves a notion of what religion is, long before the science of religions started its methodical comparisons.
Emile DurkheimEven one well-made observation will be enough in many cases, just as one well-constructed experiment often suffices for the establishment of a law.
Emile DurkheimThe man whose whole activity is diverted to inner meditation becomes insensible to all his surroundings.
Emile DurkheimMan seeks to learn, and man kills himself because of the loss of cohesion in his religious society; he does not kill himself because of his learning. It is certainly not the learning he acquires that disorganizes religion; but the desire for knowledge wakens because religion becomes disorganized.
Emile Durkheim