Quotes from Carlo M. Cipolla

Sotto molti rispetti il contribuito del clero al benessere della comunità non è molto diverso da quello dello psichiatra nella società odierna ed è stato osservato che nei Paesi dove la gente ricorre meno al confessore finisce col ricorrere di più allo psichiatra.

It is well known that Nature manages, rather mysteriously, to keep constant the relative frequency of certain natural phenomena.

the female to male ratio among the newly born is a constant, with a very slight prevalence of males.

From action or inaction each one of us derives a gain or a loss and at the same time one causes a gain or a loss to some one else.

Most people do not act consistently.

The "Vasco da Gama's era" ends in a nightmare in which men-Westerners and non-Westerners alike-are bewildered by this confusion and the old fancy of the apprenti sorcier becomes tragically actual.