Howard S. Becker

Hanging out with jazz musicians taught me more about society than any textbook.

Rules are made to be bent, not broken—unless you're making a point.

The label sticks, and then it shapes the person.

Society creates deviance to define its own normality.

In art, as in life, it's the collaboration that counts.

Writing is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration—mostly the perspiration part.

I've spent my life studying outsiders because I feel like one myself sometimes.

The meaning of life? It's in the interactions we have every day.

Politics is just another set of rules enforced by power.

Humor in sociology? It's the best way to point out the absurdities of social life.

Art isn't created in a vacuum; it's a social product through and through.

Wisdom comes from seeing patterns in chaos.

My last big idea? Keep questioning the status quo.

Comebacks in academia: 'That's interesting'—said with varying degrees of sincerity.

Science is social; no lone genius, just collective effort.

Philosophy of deviance: It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Life's too short for bad writing; make it clear and compelling.

In my letters, I always say: Keep pushing the boundaries.

From a speech: Sociology saves lives by explaining the unexplainable.

Joke: Why did the sociologist break up with the statistician? Too many variables!