All the skills which I have acquired during my sociological life allow me to diagnose and explain what is going on, but not to predict what will happen.

In Celan's words a Jew is "a man with a little book under the shoulder." We are the keepers of tradition.

Civilisation, the orderly world in which we live, is frail. We are skating on thin ice. There is a fear of a collective disaster. Terrorism, genocide, flu, tsunamis.

The visual does seem to me the most thoroughly grasped and recorded among my impressions; sight seems to be my principal sense organ, and "seeing" supplies the key metaphors for reporting the perception.

The inequality between the world's individuals is staggering.

There are other ways of finding satisfaction, recipes for human happiness, enjoyment, dignified and meaningful, gratifying life, than increased consumption that increases production.

All the skills which I have acquired during my sociological life allow me to diagnose and explain what is going on, but not to predict what will happen.