“The advice of our parents will vary according to the country we are currently living in and the dominant political ideologies (politideos) of that environment.”

Referring to Mahanayake of Kotte Kalyani Damma Maha Sanga Sabha Dr. Iththepane Dammalankara Thero, [during his time] Secretary for Ordination and the Deputy Secretary of the Sanga Sabha where he is the current Chief Secretary. He is the Director of the Pali and Buddhist Postgraduate Institute of the University of Kelaniya and the Professor of Pali at the Peradeniya University. He also is the Chief Incumbent of the Thalpitiya Bodhirajarama Vihara, and received a PhD at the University of Peradeniya, quoted on Eurasia Review (January 31, 2016), "Sri Lanka: Sirisena Participates In Ceremony To Offer Sannas Pathraya To New Anu Nayaka Thero" http://www.eurasiareview.com/31012016-sri-lanka-sirisena-participates-in-ceremony-to-offer-sannas-pathraya-to-new-anu-nayaka-thero/

Source: Intercourse (1987), Chapter Eight

Source: The World of Prayer, vol. 2, page VII

CNN, (March 13, 2012).
Articles

The Uncertain Midnight (1958)

Quoted in “Collected works of Periyar E.V.R.”, p. 54.
Society

Source: Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986), The Power of Words (1937), p. 222
Context: There is no area in our minds reserved for superstition, such as the Greeks had in their mythology; and superstition, under cover of an abstract vocabulary, has revenged itself by invading the entire realm of thought. Our science is like a store filled with the most subtle intellectual devices for solving the most complex problems, and yet we are almost incapable of applying the elementary principles of rational thought. In every sphere, we seem to have lost the very elements of intelligence: the ideas of limit, measure, degree, proportion, relation, comparison, contingency, interdependence, interrelation of means and ends. To keep to the social level, our political universe is peopled exclusively by myths and monsters; all it contains is absolutes and abstract entities. This is illustrated by all the words of our political and social vocabulary: nation, security, capitalism, communism, fascism, order, authority, property, democracy. We never use them in phrases such as: There is democracy to the extent that... or: There is capitalism in so far as... The use of expressions like "to the extent that" is beyond our intellectual capacity. Each of these words seems to represent for us an absolute reality, unaffected by conditions, or an absolute objective, independent of methods of action, or an absolute evil; and at the same time we make all these words mean, successively or simultaneously, anything whatsoever. Our lives are lived, in actual fact, among changing, varying realities, subject to the casual play of external necessities, and modifying themselves according to specific conditions within specific limits; and yet we act and strive and sacrifice ourselves and others by reference to fixed and isolated abstractions which cannot possibly be related either to one another or to any concrete facts. In this so-called age of technicians, the only battles we know how to fight are battles against windmills.

At the Root (1918)
Non-Fiction
Context: Man's respect for the imponderables varies according to his mental constitution and environment. Through certain modes of thought and training it can be elevated tremendously, yet there is always a limit. The man or nation of high culture may acknowledge to great lengths the restraints imposed by conventions and honour, but beyond a certain point primitive will or desire cannot be curbed. Denied anything ardently desired, the individual or state will argue and parley just so long — then, if the impelling motive be sufficiently great, will cast aside every rule and break down every acquired inhibition, plunging viciously after the object wished; all the more fantastically savage because of previous repression.