Who said “Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral;…”?

Verified

Emile Durkheim. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceSuicide: A Study in Sociology (1897)

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“Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral; that is, social. He is governed not by a material environment brutally imposed on him, but by a conscience superior to his own, the superiority of which he feels. Because the greater, better part of his existence transcends the body, he escapes the body's yoke, but is subject to that of society.”
— Emile Durkheim
VerifiedSuicide: A Study in Sociology (1897) · evidenceSociety

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: Suicide: A Study in Sociology (1897).

APA

Durkheim, E. (n.d.). Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral; that is, social. He is governed not by a material environment brutally imposed on him, but by a conscience superior to his own, the superiority of which he feels. Because the greater, better part of his existence transcends the body, he escapes the body's yoke, but is subject to that of society. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/38220-mans-characteristic-privilege-is-that-the-bond-he/

MLA

Durkheim, Emile. “Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral; that is, social. He is governed not by a material environment brutally imposed on him, but by a conscience superior to his own, the superiority of which he feels. Because the greater, better part of his existence transcends the body, he escapes the body's yoke, but is subject to that of society.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/38220-mans-characteristic-privilege-is-that-the-bond-he/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Durkheim, Emile. “Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral; that is, social. He is governed not by a material environment brutally imposed on him, but by a conscience superior to his own, the superiority of which he feels. Because the greater, better part of his existence transcends the body, he escapes the body's yoke, but is subject to that of society.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/38220-mans-characteristic-privilege-is-that-the-bond-he/.

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More quotes by Emile Durkheim

“Too cheerful a morality is a loose morality; it is appropriate only to decadent peoples and is found only among them.”
Optimism
“It is too great comfort which turns a man against himself. Life is most readily renounced at the time and among the classes where it is least harsh.”
Luxury
“Sadness does not inhere in things; it does not reach us from the world and through mere contemplation of the world. It is a product of our own thought. We create it out of whole cloth.”
Sorrow
“Each victim of suicide gives his act a personal stamp which expresses his temperament, the special conditions in which he is involved, and which, consequently, cannot be explained by the social and general causes of the phenomenon.”
Suicide
“From top to bottom of the ladder, greed is aroused without knowing where to find ultimate foothold. Nothing can calm it, since its goal is far beyond all it can attain. Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams of fevered imaginations; reality is therefore abandoned.”
Greed
“While the State becomes inflated and hypertrophied in order to obtain a firm enough grip upon individuals, but without succeeding, the latter, without mutual relationships, tumble over one another like so many liquid molecules, encountering no central energy to retain, fix and organize them.”
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