The mores come down to us from the past. Each individual is born into them as he is born into the atmosphere, and he does not reflect on them, or criticise them any more than a baby analyzes the atmosphere before he begins to breathe it.

William Graham Sumner

Folkways

Read Folkways at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Society and the individual

Author

William Graham Sumner

Source

Folkways

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Occupation

Academic Writer

From

United States

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sumner, William Graham. Folkways: A Study of Mores, Manners, Customs and Morals. Ginn & Company, 1906, ch. 2.

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Another quote from the 1900s

A genuine first-hand religious experience... Is bound to be a heterodoxy to its witnesses, the prophet appearing as a mere lonely madman. If his doctrine prove contagious enough to spread to any others, it becomes a definite and labeled heresy. But if it then still prove contagious enough to triumph over persecution, it becomes itself an orthodoxy, its day of inwardness is over: the spring is dry; the faithful live at second hand exclusively and stone the prophets in their turn.

William James

The Varieties of Religious Experience

More information about this quote
Topic
Religion

Author

William James
Source
The Varieties of Religious Experience
Genre
Psychological literature
Language
English
Time
1902 1900s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

James, William. "The Value of Saintliness." Gifford Lecture. c. 1902, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. Lecture.

Current Citation

James, William. "The Value of Saintliness." The Varieties of Religious Experience, edited by Martin E. Marty. Penguin Classics, 1982.