The reason that economic textbooks now begin with imaginary villages is because it has been impossible to talk about real ones. Even some economists … - David Graeber

Thus money is almost always something hovering between a commodity and a debt-token. This is probably why coins—pieces of silver or gold that are already valuable commodities in themselves, but that, being stamped with the emblem of local authority, became even more valuable—still sit in our heads as the quintessential form of money. They most perfectly straddle the divide that defines what money is in the first place. What's more, the relation between the two was a matter of constant political conversation. In other words, the battle between state and market, between governments and merchants is not inherent to the human condition.

Hell is a collection of individuals who spend their time working on a task they don't like and are not especially good at.

Honor is a zero sum game.