“One of the greatest myths of all time is that so-called civilized man is no longer an animal, and for that reason can strive to disarm himself and grow fat with false concepts.”

— William Powell (author), book The Anarchist Cookbook

Source: The Anarchist Cookbook (1971), Chapter Three: "Natural, Nonlethal, and Lethal Weapons", p. 93.

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William Powell (author)31

author of The Anarchist Cookbook 1949

Brigid Brophy (1929–1995) novelist, essayist

Interview in The Vegetarians by Rynn Berry (Autumn Press, 1979), p. 82.

“In the natural state no concept of God can arise, and the false one which one makes for himself is harmful. Hence the theory of natural religion can be true only where there is no science; therefore it cannot bind all men together.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

Part III : Selection on Education from Kant's other Writings, Ch. I Pedagogical Fragments, # 60
The Educational Theory of Immanuel Kant (1904)

“Man prides himself on being the only animal who can modify his nature, yet when he chooses to do so he is called a phony.”

Anton LaVey book The Devil's Notebook

The Devil's Notebook (1992)

“Man, of all the animals, is probably the only one to regard himself as a great delicacy.”

Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997) French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and …

Octopus and Squid: The Soft Intelligence (1973)

“Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his disposal… unnable to withdraw into himself, he disguises himself.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Diary of an Unknown (1988), On Invisibility
Context: Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his disposal... unnable to withdraw into himself, he disguises himself. Lies and inaccuracy give him a few moments of comfort, the trifling feeling of escape experienced at a masked ball. He distances himself from that which he feels and sees. He invents. He transfigures. He mythifies. He creates. He fancies himself an artist. He imitates, in his small way, the painters he claims are mad.