“We lack emotional connection even when we are surrounded by other people. This feeling of being profoundly alone is the root cause of unhappiness in the human race. It is the root cause of addictions. It is the root cause of suicide. It is the root cause of acts of terror. And it is the root of the dysfunction in the way society is structured.”

"Body Pleasure and the Origins of Violence" (1975)

Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity: Total Information Awareness (2nd Edition), 2015

Facebook Nation: Total Information Awareness (2nd Edition), 2014

Source: Time for the Stars (1956), Chapter 4, “Half a Loaf” (p. 44)

Source: Letter to his daughter (1978), p. 15
Context: You cannot be big unless you are prepared to kiss the ground. You cannot defend the soil unless you know the smell of that soil. I know the smell of our soil. I know the rhythm of our rivers. I know the beat of our drums. The theories, the dogmas and the scripts stand outside the gates of history. The dominant factor is the aspiration of the people and the ability to seek total identification with it. Once the significance of the symphony is grasped, the lines fall into place, the dogmas and theories get legs to move in time to the majesty of that music. This does not mean that I am preaching pragmatism. There is a lot of expediency in pragmatism. I am trying to trace the roots of the problems, the genesis of the challenges, the cause of the struggle.

“Coddling Killers, The American Spectator, https://spectator.org/archives/2004/12/29/coddling-killers December 29, 2004
2000s

Aphorism 9
Novum Organum (1620), Book I