“The members of a society do not make conscious choices in arriving at a particular way of life. Rather, they make unconscious adaptations.... they know only that a particular choice works, even though it may appear bizarre to an outsider.”

Man's Rise to Civilization (1968), p. 13

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Peter Farb92

American academic and writer 1929–1980

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General sources
Context: We are all such accidents. We do not make up history and culture. We simply appear, not by our own choice. We make what we can of our condition with the means available. We must accept the mixture as we find it — the impurity of it, the tragedy of it, the hope of it.