“I have reached far beyond my competence and have probably secured for good a reputation for flamboyant gestures. But the times still crowd me and give me no rest, and I see no way to avoid ambitious synthetic attempts; either we get some kind of grip on the accumulation of thought or we continue to wallow helplessly, to starve amidst plenty. So I gamble with science and write.”

— Ernest Becker , book The Denial of Death

Preface, p. xix
The Denial of Death (1973)

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Ernest Becker 26

American anthropologist 1924–1974

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