In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults.

People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.

The less a person knows about the workings of the social institutions in his society, the more he must trust those who wield power in it; and the more he trusts those who wield such power, the more vulnerable he makes himself to becoming their victim.

A teacher should have maximal authority, and minimal power.

What people really need and demand from life is not wealth, comfort, or esteem, but games worth playing

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.

The FDA calls certain substances "controlled." But there are no "controlled substances," there are only controlled citizens.