... in America ... children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.

Morality did not keep well; it required stable conditions; it was costly; it was subject to variations, and the market for it was uncertain.

What's the use of falling in love if you both remain inertly as you were?

In violence, we forget who we are

All dramatic realism is somewhat sadistic; an audience is persuaded to watch something that makes it uncomfortable and from which no relief is offered - no laughter, no tears, no purgation.

The only form of action open to a child is to break something or strike someone, its mother or another child; it cannot cause things to happen in the world.

The dictator is also the scapegoat; in assuming absolute authority, he assumes absolute guilt; and the oppressed masses, groaning under the yoke, know themselves to be innocent as lambs, while they pray hypocritically for deliverance.