It is easy to see why a diversity of cultures should confront power with a problem. If culture is about plurality, power is about unity. How can it sell itself simultaneously to a whole range of life forms without being fatally diluted?

The German philosopher Walter Benjamin had the curious notion that we could change the past. For most of us, the past is fixed while the future is open.

Those who sentimentally indulge humanity do it no favours.

Historical determinism is a recipe for political quietism.

From the viewpoint of political power, culture is absolutely vital. So vital, indeed, that power cannot operate without it. It is culture, in the sense of the everyday habits and beliefs of a people, which beds power down, makes it appear natural and inevitable, turns it into spontaneous reflex and response.

I value my Catholic background very much. It taught me not to be afraid of rigorous thought, for one thing.

Man eternally tries to get back to an organic past that has slipped just beyond his reach.