# Quote — Daniel Quinn, Ishmael

> Obviously Mother Culture must be finished off if you’re going to survive, and that’s something the people of your culture can do. She has no existence outside your minds. Once you stop listening to her, she ceases to exist.

- Author: [Daniel Quinn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn.md)
- Book: [Ishmael](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael.md)
- Page: 144
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Quinn#Ishmael_(1992)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/obviously-mother-culture

## More from this book

> Of course it’s not enough. But if you begin anywhere else, there’s no hope at all.

p. 248 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/of-course-its.md)

> If the will is there, the method will be found.

p. 140 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/if-the-will.md)

> “One thing I know people will say to me is ‘Are you suggesting we go back to being hunter-gatherers?’”
>
> “That of course is an inane idea,” Ishmael said. “The Leaver life-style isn’t about hunting and gathering, it’s about letting the rest of the community live—and agriculturalists can do that as well as hunter-gatherers.”

p. 250 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/one-thing-i-know.md)