I grew up haphazard, wounded and tortured in mind, full of self-pity and hatred of others. - Isaac Asimov

I have always dealt with economic forces, rather than philosophic forces, but you can’t split history into neat little nonoverlapping divisions. For instance, religions tend to accumulate wealth when successful and that eventually tends to distort the economic development of a society.

Es una lección invariable a la humanidad que la distancia en el tiempo, y asimismo en el espacio, da perspectiva a las cosas.

Despite all that education and experience can do, I retain a certain level of unsophistication that I cannot eradicate and that my friends find amusing. In fact, I think I sometimes detect conspiratorial plottings among my friends to protect me against my own lack of sophistication. I don't mind. I suspect that I am never quite as unsophisticated as they think I am, but I don't mind.