Our System Is The Height Of Absurdity,

The Anthropologist Respects History, But He Does Not Accord It A Special Value. He Conceives It As A Study Complementary To His Own: One Of Them Unfurls The Range Of Human Societies In Time, The Other In Space.

In The Case Of European Towns, The Passing Of Centuries Provides An Enhancement; In The Case Of American Towns, The Passing Of Years Brings Degeneration. It Is Not Simply That They Have Been Newly Built; They Were Built So As To Be Renewable As Quickly As They Were Put Up, That Is, Badly.

The Image A Society Evolves Of The Relationship Between The Living And The Dead Is, In The Final Analysis, An Attempt, On The Level Of Religious Thought, To Conceal, Embellish Or Justify The Actual Relationships Which Prevail Among The Living.

The Police Are Not Entrusted With A Mission Which Differentiates Them From Those They Serve. Being Unconcerned With Ultimate Purposes, They Are Inseparable From The Persons And Interests Of Their Masters, And Shine With Their Reflected Glory.

The Only Phenomenon With Which Writing Has Always Been Concomitant Is The Creation Of Cities And Empires, That Is The Integration Of Large Numbers Of Individuals Into A Political System, And Their Grading Into Castes Or Classes. It Seems To Have Favored The Exploitation Of Human Beings Rather Than Their Enlightenment.