“Hiri, a sense of shame; and ottappa, a sense of compunction: These are qualities that protect the world. But they can protect the world only because we practice them. If we don’t practice them, they don’t protect anything. Some Westerners have called me on this. They say, “You live in Thailand. Thailand is a Buddhist country, so why does it have so many thieves?” I admit that it’s true. Thailand has lots of thieves, but it’s people who are thieves. The Dhamma isn’t a thief. It’s probably the same in the West. Not only in Thailand do we have dishonest people. They’re thieves. There are good laws, and morality is still good. So I admit that there are thieves in Thailand, but the Dhamma isn’t a thief.”