Max Weber

The 'disenchantment of the world' has left us with a world that is cold and meaningless.

The bureaucrat is a master of procedure, but often loses sight of the purpose.

The academic is a seeker of truth, but often finds only more questions.

The 'iron cage' is a testament to the power of rationality, and its limitations.

The modern world is a world of progress, but progress towards what?

Man is a creature suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun. I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning.

The fully developed bureaucratic apparatus compares with other organizations exactly as does the machine with non-mechanical modes of production. Precision, speed, unambiguity, knowledge of the files, continuity, discretion, unity, strict subordination, reduction of friction and of material and personal costs – these are raised to the optimum point in the strictly bureaucratic administration.

The 'spirit' of capitalism, in the sense in which we are using the term, is the sum of those characteristics which we have just described, plus the fact that they are conceived as an ethic, as a duty.

The peculiarity of the modern man is that he is a specialist in one field, and a dilettante in all others.

The Puritan, like every strong type of man, was a man of action.

The power of the state is not a given, but a constantly contested and negotiated outcome of social struggles.

The modern man is a 'specialist without spirit, sensualist without heart; this nullity imagines that it has reached a level of civilization never before achieved.'

The ultimate and most fundamental fact of human existence is that man is a meaning-seeking animal.

The ethical irrationality of the world, which is a necessary consequence of the existence of evil, is the fundamental problem of all theodicies.

The destiny of an economic order is determined by the spirit that animates it.

The truly 'scientific' politician must be a man of passion, but also a man of responsibility.

The value of a science is not determined by its practical usefulness, but by its contribution to knowledge.

The 'iron cage' of bureaucracy is a metaphor for the increasing rationalization and dehumanization of modern life.

The 'calling' is the central concept of the Protestant ethic, which transforms worldly activity into a religious duty.

The 'charisma' of a leader is a quality that inspires devotion and obedience in followers, regardless of their rational assessment of his abilities.