Emile Durkheim Definitions Quotations

By definition, sacred beings are separated beings. That which characterizes them is that there is a break of continuity between them and the profane beings.

This solidarity can grow only in inverse ratio to personality.... Solidarity which comes from likenesses is at its maximum when the collective conscience completely envelops our whole conscience and coincides in all points with it.... when this solidarity exercises its force, our personality vanishes, as our definition permits us to say, for we are no longer ourselves, but the collective life.

To pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness.