The artist who is after success lets himself be influenced by the public. Generally such an artist contributes nothing new, for the public acclaims only what it already knows, what it recognizes. Reflections on Literature and Morality

The secret of great fortunes without apparent cause is a crime forgotten, for it was properly done. Le Pere Goriot

Religious values tend to be especially deeply held and hence frequent cause of disastrous behaviour. [...] The modern world provides us with abundant secular examples of admirable values to which we cling under conditions where those values no longer make sense [...] It appears to me that much of the rigid opposition to environmental concerns in the First World nowadays involves values acquired early in life and never again reexamined [...]. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Strange that creatures without backbones have the hardest shells. Sand and Foam