Where there is dirt there is system. Dirt is the byproduct of a systematic ordering and classification of matter.

If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization.

Without the letters of condolence, telegrams of congratulations and even occasional postcards, the friendship of a separated friend is not a social reality. It has no existence without the rites of friendship. Social rituals create a reality which would be nothing without them.

I have increasingly, over the years, felt that religion today does our civilization more harm than good.

The natural response of the old-timers is to build a strong moral wall against the outside. This is where the world starts to be painted in black and white, saints inside, and sinners outside the wall.

The theory of cultural bias... is the idea that a culture is based on a particular form of organization. It can't be transplanted except to another variant of that organization.

Pretensions to moral superiority are devastatingly destructive.