Many of the traits that make Amazon unusual are now deeply ingrained in the culture. In fact, if I wanted to change them, I couldn't. The cultures are self-reinforcing, and that's a good thing.

A culture of high standards is protective of all the "invisible" but crucial work that goes on in every company. I'm talkingabout the work that no one sees. The work that gets done when no one is watching. In a high standards culture, doing that work well is its own reward-it's part of what it means to be a professional.

In my view, Amazon's culture is unusually supportive of small businesses with big potential, and I believe that's a source of competitive advantage.

Have the courage to go against the tide of this culture of efficiency, this culture of waste. Encountering and welcoming everyone, [building] solidarity-a word that is being hidden by this culture, as if it were a bad word-solidarity and fraternity: these are what make our society truly human.

We merely want to live in peace with all the world, to trade with them, to commune with them, to learn from their culture as they may learn from ours, so that the products of our toil may be used for our schools and our roads and our churches and not for guns and planes and tanks and ships of war.

When the foundations of social life are corroded, what ensues are battles over conflicting interests, new forms of violence and brutality, and obstacles to the growth of a genuine culture of care for the environment.