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Luther understands monasticism as a product of an egoistic lovelessness that withdraws from one's duties in the world. By contrast, this-worldly work in a vocation appears to him to be a visible expression of brotherly love, a notion he anchors in a highly unrealistic manner indeed and in contrast—almost grotesquely—to the well-known passages of Adam Smith.

— Max Weber The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905)

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The more a religion is aware of its opposition in principle to economic rationalization as such, the more apt are the religion’s virtuosi to reject the world, especially its economic activities.

Sociology of Religion (1922)

Mysticism intends a state of "possession," not action, and the individual is not a tool but a "vessel" of the divine.

What interests us here is the assimilative power of the Hindu life order due to its legitimation of social rank.

Religion of India (1916)

The ultimately possible attitudes toward life are irreconcilable, and hence their struggle can never be brought to a final conclusion.

For the true mystic the principle continues to hold: the creature must be silent so that God may speak.

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