What the Buddha did as a revolutionary was to shift the social ethos from collectivism to individualism; to redefine the highest good as transcendent liberation, not mundane success; to replace the competitive struggle of egocentric identities with a cooperative interaction of eccentric individuals. He worked to transform violence into nonviolence, greed into generosity, self-indulgence into sensitivity, deceitfulness into honesty, and, most important, ignorance into insight.

Robert Thurman, Inner Revolution