The effect of the consolations of religion may be compared to that of a narcotic.

Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.

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

A piece of creative writing, like a day-dream, is a continuation of, and a substitute for, what was once the play of childhood.

The whole life of instinct serves the one end of bringing about death.

The first requisite of civilization, therefore, is that of justice — that is, the assurance that a law once made will not be broken in favour of an individual. This implies nothing as to the ethical value of such a law.

One might compare the relation of the ego to the id with that between a rider and his horse. The horse provides the locomotor energy, and the rider has the prerogative of determining the goal and of guiding the movements of his powerful mount towards it. But all too often in the relations between the ego and the id we find a picture of the less ideal situation in which the rider is obliged to guide his horse in the direction in which it itself wants to go.