
“A hermit is simply a person to whom civilization has failed to adjust itself.”
Source: The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Ch. V: Of the Wings of Atalanta
“A hermit is simply a person to whom civilization has failed to adjust itself.”
Source: Discourses (1967), Vol. I, Ch. 15 : The Life of the Spirit.
Context: When once true adjustment between spirit and matter is secured there is no phase of life which cannot be utilised for the expression of divinity. No longer is there any need to run away from everyday life and its tangles. The freedom of the spirit, which is sought by avoiding contact with the world and by going to the caves or mountains, is a negative freedom. When such retirement is temporary and is meant to digest worldly experiences and develop detachment it has its own advantages. It gives breathing time in the race of life. But when such retirement is grounded in fear of the world or lack of confidence in the spirit, it is far from helpful towards the attainment of real freedom. Real freedom is essentially positive and must express itself through unhampered dominion of the spirit over matter. This is the true life of the spirit.
Source: Zero Gravity interview (2006), p. 75
“I feel that if I ever did adjust to prison, I could by that alone never adjust to society.”
In the Belly of the Beast (1981)
Source: Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power (1929), p. 18
January 6, 2004, World Bank Video Series, Amman, Jordan.
“Egalitarians adjust to aristocracies just fine, as long as they get to be the aristocrats.”
Vorkosigan Saga, Cetaganda (1996)
"The Marxian Critique of Justice," Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Spring, 1972), pp. 244-282