Approved attributes and their relation to face make every man his own jailer; this is a fundamental social constraint even though each man may like his cell.

Perhaps the individual is so viable a god because he can actually understand the ceremonial significance of the way he is treated, and quite on his own can respond dramatically to what is proffered him. In contacts between such deities there is no need for middlemen; each of these gods is able to serve as his own priest.

Man is not like other animals in the ways that are really significant: Animals have instincts, we have taxes.

The world, in truth, is a wedding.

And to the degree that the individual maintains a show before others that he himself does not believe, he can come to experience a special kind of alienation from self and a special kind of wariness of others.

Choose your self-presentations carefully, for what starts out as a mask may become your face.

Society is an insane asylum ran by the inmates.