What we must decide is perhaps how we are valuable rather than how valuable we are.

Not only do most people accept violence if it is perpetuated by legitimate authority, they also regard violence against certain kinds of people as inherently legitimate, no matter who commits it.

Most Americans would say that they disapproved of violence. But what they really mean is that they believe it should be the monopoly of the state.

If a people have no word for something, either it does not matter to them or it matters too much to talk about.

Human life is a continuous thread which each of us spins to his own pattern, rich and complex in meaning. There are no natural knots in it. Yet knots form, nearly always in adolescence.

Those who love the young best stay young longest.

Adolescents tend to be passionate people, and passion is no less real because it is directed toward a hot-rod, a commercialized popular singer, or the leader of a black-jacketed gang.