“Witchcraft had once been widely used before cursed by the society. I see today the society presumes technology will have a different treatment.”

“There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.”

“And as the Society reminds us, there's a difference between knowledge and technology. Knowledge doesn't fail us.”

“I doubt that pornography has been good for the advancement of society, but I suspect it’s done wonders for the advancement of computer technology.”

“What, I wondered, did he mean by “society”? The plural of human beings? Where was the substance of this thing called “society”? I had spent my whole life thinkng that society must certainly be something powerful, harsh and severe, but to hear Horiki talk made the words “Don’t you mean yourself?” come to the tip of my tongue. But I held the words back, reluctant to anger him.‘Society won’t stand for it.’‘It’s not society. You’re the one who won’t stand for it - right?’‘If you do such a thing society will make you suffer for it’‘It’s not society. It’s you, isn’t it?’‘Before you know it, you’ll be ostracized by society.’‘It’s not society. You’re going to do the ostracizing, aren’t you?’Words, words of every kind went flitting through my head. “Know thy particular fearsomeness, thy knavery, cunning and witchcraft!” What I said, however, as I wiped the perspiration from my face with a handkerchief was merely, “You’ve put me in a cold sweat!” I smiled.From then on, however, I came to hold, almost as a philosophical conviction, the belief: What is society but an individual?”

“Societies in decline have no use for visionaries.”