# Quote — Daniel Quinn, My Ishmael

> “This may be totally wrong,” I told him. “This may just be the simple truth, but this is what I hear: ‘sure, you can save the world, but you're really going to hate it. It's really going to be painful.’”
>
> “Why is it going to be painful?”
>
> “Because of all the stuff we have to give up. But as I say, this may just be the simple truth.”
>
> “No, it's not the simple truth, Julie. It's Mother Culture’s simple lie. Although Mother Culture is a metaphor, she really does behave uncannily like a real person sometimes. Why do you think she would tell this particular lie?”
>
> “She wants to discourage us from changing, I guess.”
>
> “Of course. Her whole function is to preserve the status quo. This is not a peculiarity of your Mother Culture. In every culture, it's the function of Mother Culture to preserve the status quo.”

- Author: [Daniel Quinn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn.md)
- Book: [My Ishmael](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/my-ishmael.md)
- Page: 189
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Quinn#My_Ishmael_(1997)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/my-ishmael/this-may-be-totally

## More from this book

> People seldom look very hard for things they don’t want to find.

p. 63 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/my-ishmael/people-seldom-look.md)

> By the simple act of being locked up, food was transformed into a product—the fundamental product of your economy.

p. 174 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/my-ishmael/by-the-simple.md)

> They’re sure that there must be all sorts of things wrong with ever tribal way of life, and of course they’re correct—if you mean by “wrong” something you don’t like.

p. 95 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/my-ishmael/theyre-sure-that.md)