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It is not human nature which can assign the variable limits necessary to our needs. They are thus unlimited so far as they depend on the individual alone. Irrespective of any external regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss.

— Émile Durkheim Suicide: A Study in Sociology (1897)

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More quotes by Émile Durkheim

Methodological rules are for science what rules of law and custom are for conduct.

The Division of Labor in Society (1893)

Solidarity can grow only in inverse ratio to personality.

The Division of Labor in Society (1893)

Solidarity which comes from likenesses is at its maximum when the collective conscience completely envelops our whole conscience and coincides in all points with it.

The Division of Labor in Society (1893)

There is no sociology worthy of the name which does not possess a historical character.

Debate on Explanation in History and Sociology (1908)

The general conclusion of the book which the reader has before him is that religion is something eminently social.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Émile Durkheim (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.