Civilization is a process in the service of Eros, whose purpose is to combine single human individuals, and after that families, then races, peoples and nations, into one great unity, the unity of mankind. Why this has to happen, we do not know; the work of Eros is precisely this. – Sigmund Freud
The first human being who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. – Sigmund Freud
Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. – Sigmund Freud
I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves — such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. – Albert Einstein, “What I Believe,” Forum and Century, 1930