The Substance Of My Being

Americans ... Do Not Naturally Apply The Term "bourgeois" To Themselves, Or To Anyone Else For That Matter. They Do Like To Call Themselves Middle Class, But That Does Not Carry With It Any Determinate Spiritual Content. ... The Term "middle Class" Does Not Have Any Of The Many Opposites That Bourgeois Has, Such As Aristocrat, Saint, Hero, Or Artist - All Good.

These Sociologists Who Talk To Facilely About The Sacred Are Like A Man Who Keeps A Toothless Old Circus Lion Around The House In Order To Experience The Thrills Of The Jungle.

An Education, Other Than Purely Professional Or Technical, Can Even Seem To Be An Impediment.

We Witness A Strange Inversion: On The One Hand, The Endeavor To Turn The Social Contract Into A Less Calculating And More Feeling Connection Among Its Members; On The Other Hand, The Endeavor To Turn The Erotic Relationship Into A Contractual One.

There Is A Perennial And Unobtrusive View That Morality Consists In Such Things As Telling The Truth, Paying One's Debts, Respecting One's Parents And Doing No Voluntary Harm To Anyone. Those Are All Things Easy To Say And Hard To Do; They Do Not Attract Much Attention, And Win Little Honor In The World.