Quote of the Day

The conditions optimal for cultural creativeness seem to be a marked degree of individual autonomy; a modicum of economic well-being; absence of mass fervor whether religious, patriotic, revolutionary, business, or war; a paucity of opportunities for action; a milieu which recognizes and awards merit; and a degree of communal discipline…When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. Originality is deliberate and forced, and partakes of the nature of a protest. A society which gives unlimited freedom to the individual, more often than not, attains a disconcerting sameness. On the other hand, where communal discipline is strict but not ruthless—”an annoyance which irritates, but not a heavy yoke which crushes”—originality is likely to thrive.

—Eric Hoffer, Between the Devil and the Dragon