The Error of the Modern Hedonist

"The institution of the family inevitably creates a vital tension which is creative as well as painful.  For human culture is not instinctive.  It has to be conquered by a continuous moral effort, which involves the repression of the natural instinct and the subordination and sacrifice of the individual impulse to the social purpose.  It is the fundamental error of the modern hedonist to believe that man can abandon moral effort, throw off every repression and spiritual discipline, and yet preserve all the achievements of culture.  It is the lesson of history that the higher the achievement of a culture the greater is the moral effort and is the social discipline that it demands."

-Christopher Dawson