Quote of the day and the only commentary for now is... I appreciate "Great Women and Their Environment" too.
"Social evolution is a resultant of the interaction of two holly distinct factors: the individual... bearing all the power of initiative and origination in his hands; and, second, the social environment, with the power of adopting or rejecting both him and his gifts. Both factors are essential to change. The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community."
- William James, Great Men and Their Environment" 1880, Will to Believe: And Other Essays in Popular Philosophy