fear has always been a diminisher of life. Whether bred in the bogs of superstition or clothed in the brocades of dogma and ritual, the specter of death has reduced the living to supplicants, powerless.

In our society those who are in reality superior in intelligence can be accepted by their fellows only if they pretend they are not.

It is not enough to show people how to live better; there is a mandate for any group with enormous powers of communication to show people how to be better.

Infants are interesting only to their parents.

For every five well-adjusted and smoothly functioning Americans, there are two who never had the chance to discover themselves. It may well be because they have never been alone with themselves.

the incredible new medical technology has made it possible for highly disciplined teams of surgeons ... to keep stricken organisms alive even if the brain is irretrievably damaged or lung and heart incapable of functioning without mechanical help. Now it is not dust to dust, but human to vegetable.

Minds are cluttered from the age of six with the values of others-values which bear little relation to their own private capacities, needs and desires.