We believe that civilization has been created under the pressure of the exigencies of life at the cost of satisfaction of the instincts.

Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as right in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as brute force.

Civilization is a process in the service of Eros, whose purpose is to combine single human individuals, and after that families, then races, peoples and nations, into one great unity, the unity of mankind. Why this has to happen, we do not know; the work of Eros is precisely this.

Cruelty and intolerance to those who do not belong to it are natural to every religion.

The impression forces itself upon one that men measure by false standards, that everyone seeks power, success, riches for himself, and admires others who attain them, while undervaluing the truly precious thing in life.

It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct.

Desire presses ever forward unsubdued.