Social life comes from a double source, the likeness of consciences and the division of social labour.

If religion has given birth to all that is essential in society, it is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.

Religious phenomena are naturally arranged in two fundamental categories: beliefs and rites. The first are states of opinion, and consist in representations; the second are determined modes of action.

Even one well-made observation will be enough in many cases, just as one well-constructed experiment often suffices for the establishment of a law.

When morals are sufficient, law is unnecessary; when morals are insufficient, law is unenforceable.

Socialism is not a science, a sociology in miniature: it is a cry of pain.

At this point, an urgent question arises: [...] Is it our duty to seek to become a thorough and complete human being, one quite sufficient unto himself; or, on the contrary, to be only a part of a whole, the organ of an organism? Briefly, is the division of labor, at the same time that it is a law of nature, also a moral rule of human conduct; and, if it has this latter character, why and in what degree?