To pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness.

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.

The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society forms a determinate system with a life of its own. It can be termed the collective or creative consciousness.

Man is a moral being, only because he lives in society. Let all social life disappear and morality will disappear with it.

The first and most basic rule is to consider social facts as things.

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

Man 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.