On [:] Our standards of morality | Kakuzō Okakura, 1906

“Our standards of morality are begotten of the past needs of society, but is society to remain always
the same? The observance of communal traditions involves a constant sacrifice of the individual to
the state. Education, in order to keep up the mighty delusion, encourages a species of ignorance.
People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave properly. We are wicked because we are
frightfully self-conscious. We nurse a conscience because we are afraid to tell the truth to others; we
take refuge in pride because we are afraid to tell the truth to ourselves. How can one be serious with
the world when the world itself is so ridiculous!”

Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea, 1906