Leon Kass Quotes

Too much society makes a man frivolous; too little, a savage.

But the further step, by means of which a civilization is given its quality or culture, is only attained by a process of cellular division, in the course of which the individual is differentiated, made distinct from and independent of the parent group.

Our species likes being social.

Nature makes only dumb animals. We owe the fools to society.

There is an invisible garment woven around us from our earliest years; it is made of the way we eat, the way we walk, the way we greet people.

Human beings are social creatures - not occasionally or by accident but always. Sociability is one of our lives as both cause and effect.

Ideas for my first experiments in human aggression came from discussions we had in a research seminar about William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies.'

It's human nature to want to be with other people.

We cannot understand our humanity just by studying individuals.

The spirit of the age, as it is revealed to each of us, is too often only the spirit of the group in which the accidents of birth or education or occupation or fellowship have given us a place.

Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them far apart.

There is no fundamental difference in the ways of thinking of primitive and civilized man. A close connection between race and personality has never been established.

My experience is that aggression is a universal trait in human beings - girls feel it in any sort of environment, same-sex or co-ed.

Culture in general is important, and people's identify is tied up in it. It's how we connect with others.

Culture is an output of a bunch of inputs that have to come together the right way. Specifically, it is the collision of people and their context, how they interact with each other in that context, and then how that context evolves based on those interactions as they multiply.

Culture is a part of basic human nature, of deep humanity.

Man is a social animal.

The best way to get to know any bunch of people is to go and listen to their music.

Many species reciprocate, but only humans gossip, and much of what we gossip about is the vale of other people as partners for reciprocal relationships.

We as humans, we're not solitary people, we're like dogs, we like to live in packs and know about one another. And, if anything, fame is people trying to attain community on a mass scale, because when you become famous wherever you go people know about what you've done and what you're about to do.

We have a unique culture.

Politics runs in every human being, and so does music.

You learn a lot about human nature in a bar.

We hunger for connection to a larger community.

All culture, all important culture, is always linked to how people express and experience being alive.