Pierre Clastres

"Power requires bureaucracy; authority requires only respect."

"The primitive world had fewer things and more meaning."

"Society is the collective refusal to be dominated."

"The gift creates bonds that cannot be bought or sold."

"Civilization tells us we have progressed; it hides what we have lost."

"The tribe is the answer to the question that the state poses."

"In primitive societies, work is not a burden; it is a social act."

"The state's greatest achievement is making its domination seem natural."

"Archaic societies were not innocent; they were conscious of their freedom."

"The shaman speaks for the invisible; the chief speaks for the visible."

"Modernity is the first civilization that cannot imagine alternatives to itself."

"Power in the state is permanent; authority in the tribe is contingent."

"The primitive economy is based on reciprocity, not accumulation."

"Society prevents itself from becoming what it ought not to become."

"The state speaks of order; the tribe speaks of balance."

"In archaic societies, luxury is not consumption; it is redistribution."

"The gift is the only exchange that creates equality."

"Primitive peoples understood that freedom requires constant vigilance."

"The chief's downfall begins the moment he thinks he is important."

"Modernity has given us dominion over nature at the cost of dominion over ourselves."

"In tribal societies, being is valued more than having."

"The state mediates between society and nature; the tribe mediates between humanity and the sacred."

"Power hidden is power doubled; power exposed is power questioned."

"The primitive world knew that equality must be defended daily."

"Civilization accumulates things but loses relationships."

"The shaman's authority comes from knowledge that cannot be institutionalized."

"In archaic societies, the past is alive; in the state, it is dead."

"The tribe prevents the emergence of the one who would rule all."

"Modernity mistakes the quantifiable for the valuable."

"Society is the invention whereby men escape the rule of the strong."