Sects must gradually disappear

Sects must gradually disappear as liberty and knowledge increase. Sects are founded on the nonessential, which by the nature of things cannot survive. The sects have served their purpose, which was that of an exclusive brotherhood on lines comprehended by those within it. Gradually we reach the idea of universal brotherhood by flinging down the walls of partition which separate such aggregation of individuals.

Interview. London, 1896. Complete Works, 5:197-98.