Max Weber

In the modern economic order, the idea of duty in one's calling prowls about in our lives like a ghost.

The limits of science are set by the limits of meaningful questions.

Authority rests on the belief in its legitimacy.

The rise of the West is an event which embittered the world.

Personal reflections: Life's meaning is not given, but must be fought for in the arena of values.

Humor in bureaucracy: It is the most rational known means of exercising dominion over men.

The doctor's calling is to preserve life, but he cannot decide its value.

In politics, conviction is the courage to stand by one's principles.

The cultural significance of an event is not something that happens once and for all.

Witty remark: Sociologists are like tailors who measure the emperor's new clothes.

The meaning of life is to be found in the struggle itself, not in its fruits.

Professional observation: Sociology must interpret the cultural significance of social action.

Excerpt from letter: My dear friend, the world is rationalizing itself to death.

Speech excerpt: Gentlemen, the old gods are dead; we must learn to live without them.

Key passage: Rationalization may well increase the wealth of society, but it diminishes its freedom.

Aphorism: He who seeks the salvation of the soul may not seek it through the world.

Comeback in debate: Your Marxism is but a new religion for the disenchanted.

Last words: Now it's over. The world is disenchanted, and so am I.

The iron cage of bureaucracy.

The decisive reason for the success of bureaucratic administration has always been its purely technical superiority over any other form of organization.