“Women want mediocre men, and men are working to be as mediocre as possible.”

[Partly as a consequence of male authority] prestige value always attaches to the activities of men.

Between friends there is no bribery. The relationship of friends is intrinsically fair and equal. Neither feels stronger or more clever or more beautiful than the other.

Warfare is just an invention, older and more widespread than the jury system, but none the less an invention.

One characteristic of Americans is that they have no toleration at all of anybody putting up with anything. We believe that whatever is going wrong ought to be fixed.

I have a respect for manners as such, they are a way of dealing with people you don’t agree with or like.

Never depend upon institutions or government to solve any problem. All social movements are founded by, guided by, motivated and seen through by the passion of individuals.

One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don’t come home at night.

I was brought up to believe that the only thing worth doing was to add to the sum of accurate information in the world.

Having two bathrooms ruined the capacity to co-operate.

In Bali life is a rhythmic, patterned unreality of pleasant, significant movement, centered in one’s own body to which all emotions long ago withdrew.

The problem with America today is that too many people know too much about not enough.

The assumption that men and woman are essentially alike in all respects, or even in the most important ones, is a damaging one, as damaging as the assumption that they are different in ways in which they aren’t different, perhaps more so.

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world.

Of course we need children! Adults need children in their lives to listen to and care for, to keep their imagination fresh and their hearts young and to make the future a reality for which they are willing to work.

The people of one nation alone cannot save their own children; each holds the responsibility for the others’ children.

Motherhood is a biological fact, while fatherhood is a social invention.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

Mediocre people don’t like high achievers, and high achievers don’t like mediocre people.

Most of our pocket wisdom is conceived for the use of mediocre people, to discourage them from ambitious attempts, and generally console them in their mediocrity.

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.

Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.

Still being ambitious to want to play on the record, I was a mediocre keyboard player. And uh, I seized the opportunity and played the organ.

If you have a great band with a mediocre drummer, you have a mediocre band. If you have a mediocre band with a great drummer, you have a great band!

With a good script a good director can produce a masterpiece; with the same script a mediocre director can make a passable film. But with a bad script even a good director can’t possibly make a good film.