Omar Quotes

We face a conflict between civilisation and culture, which used to be on the same side. Civilisation means rational reflection, material wellbeing, individual autonomy and ironic self-doubt; culture means a form of life that is customary, collective, passionate, spontaneous, unreflective and irrational.

History warns us that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.

It is the customary fate of new truths, to begin as heresies, and to end as superstitions.

The epoch of Customary Law, and of its custody by a privileged order, is a very remarkable one.

Manners are of such great consequence to the novelist that any kind will do. Bad manners are better than no manners at all, and because we are losing our customary manners, we are probably overly conscious of them; this seems to be a condition that produces writers.