The reputations of the nineteenth century will one day be quoted to prove its barbarism. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Uses of Great Men” (lecture)

It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct. – Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

What we call progress is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance. – Henry Havelock Ellis

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. – Confucius