Brendan

“Yet in Germany no less than the United States, the political meaning of genocide has never been widely understood. Both populations have, for the most part, denounced genocide as a racist act, but neither has recognized that it was also a productive one, whose outcome is the nation-states in which they live.”
― Mahmood Mamdani, Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities

“On the one hand, Puritans hinted that God would reward the diligent and godly with prosperity. On the other hand, they cautioned that wealth must not be an end unto itself lest carnal temptations overwhelm the ultimate purpose of human life: preparation for salvation in the next world.”
― Alan Taylor, American Colonies: The Settling of North America

“Many of the laws are also quoted, expanded, and revised in the New Testament, for example in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) and in the “household codes” of some letters, such as Ephesians 5:22–6:9, Colossians 3:18–4:1, and 1 Peter 2:18–3:7. The household codes in particular also have parallels in Greek and Roman literature.”
― Michael Coogan, The Bible: What Everyone Needs to Know®

“The dissolution of monasteries under Henry VIII and the subsequent reorganization of agriculture was another step that altered the balance of power in rural England. The slow growth in the real incomes of the English peasantry before the beginning of the industrial era was a consequence of this type of drift.”
― Daron Acemoğlu, Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity