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Society quotes

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“Society is no comfort to one not sociable.” William Shakespeare, “Cymbeline” - 1623

“People who live in society have learned how to see themselves in mirrors as they appear to their friends.” Jean-Paul Sartre, “Nausea” - 1938

“It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“Our conclusion, then, is that political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“Families stand at the center of our society. And every family has a personal stake in promoting excellence in education.” Ronald Reagan, “State of the Union Address” - 25 January 1984

“Force is the midwife of every old society pregnant with a new one.” Karl Marx, “Das Kapital” - 1867

“Among unequals what society can sort, what harmony, or true delight?” John Milton, “Paradise Lost” - 1667

“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” John F. Kennedy, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1961

“When red-headed people are above a certain social grade their hair is auburn.” Mark Twain, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court” - 1889

“I am alone in the midst of these happy, reasonable voices. All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other. In Heaven’s name, why is it so important to think the same things all together.” Jean-Paul Sartre, “Nausea” - 1938

“I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.” Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye” - 1982

“No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.” Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations” - 1776

“I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.” Henry David Thoreau, “Walden” - 1854

“Anything we want, we're trained to want.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Invisible Monsters” - 1999

“Human life and human labour were near. I must struggle on: strive to live and bend to toil like the rest.” Charlotte Brontë, “Jane Eyre” - 16 October 1847

“But of all the instances of error arising from this physical fancy, the worst is that we have before us: the habit of exhaustively describing a social sickness, and then propounding a social drug.” G. K. Chesterton, “What's Wrong with the World” - 1910

“Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.” Ayn Rand, “The Fountainhead” - 1943

“Hence I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight.” Malcolm X, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” - 1965

“I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating. I do not, therefore, obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude to them before me again!” Jules Verne, “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea” - 1870

“Yet command and obedience are but unfortunate necessities of human life: society in equality is its normal state.” John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection of Women” - 1869

“Society bristles with enigmas which look hard to solve. It is a perfect maze of intrigue.” Honoré de Balzac, “Letters of Two Brides” - 1841

“Worse than all, you are candid, and it often happens that our happiness depends on certain social hypocrisies to which you will never stoop.” Honoré de Balzac, “Letters of Two Brides” - 1841

“All that destroys social unity is worthless; all institutions that set man in contradiction to himself are worthless.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“Hence Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the labourer, unless under compulsion from society.” Karl Marx, “Das Kapital” - 1867

“Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.” Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” - 1776

“Badger hates Society, and invitations, and dinner, and all that sort of thing.” Kenneth Grahame, “The Wind in the Willows” - 1908

“What I condemn are our system of values and the men who don't acknowledge how great, difficult, but ultimately beautiful women's share in society is.” Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl” - 1947

“With the destruction of our social fabric, science will be broken into a million pieces. Individuals will know much of exceedingly tiny facets of what there is to know.” Isaac Asimov, “Foundation” - 1951

“Yes, the money-changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilisation. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than...” Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Looking Forward” - 1933

“In a society run by terror, no statements whatsoever can be taken seriously. They are all forced, and it is the duty of every honest man to ignore them.” Milan Kundera, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” - 1984

“She belonged to that one of the two divisions of the human race in which the untiring curiosity which the other half feels about the people whom it does not know is replaced by an unfailing interest in the people whom it does.” Marcel Proust, “Swann's Way” - 1913

“Ah! by Jove! one’s duty is to feel what is great, cherish the beautiful, and not accept all the conventions of society with the ignominy that it imposes upon us.” Gustave Flaubert, “Madame Bovary” - 1856

“I'm now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.” Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights” - 1847

“We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” Pope Francis, “Laudato si'” - 24 May 2015

“The mindset which leaves no room for sincere concern for the environment is the same mindset which lacks concern for the inclusion of the most vulnerable members of society.” Pope Francis, “Laudato si'” - 24 May 2015

“Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society.” Pope Francis, “Laudato si'” - 24 May 2015

“For a closed society is not open to ideas of progress—and a police state finds that it cannot command the grain to grow.” John F. Kennedy, “State of the Union Address” - 14 January 1963

“As liberals, we take freedom of the individual, or perhaps the family, as our ultimate goal in judging social arrangements.” Milton Friedman, “Capitalism and Freedom” - 1962

“The conception of education as a social process and function has no definite meaning until we define the kind of society we have in mind.” John Dewey, “Democracy and Education” - 1916

“Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can't get into it do that.” Oscar Wilde, “The Importance of Being Earnest” - 1895

“Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself.” Oscar Wilde, “An Ideal Husband” - 1895

“what is reality? . . . It’s whatever the majority deems it to be. It’s not necessarily the best or the most logical, but it’s the one that supports the desires of society as a whole.” Paulo Coelho, “Veronika Decides to Die” - 1998

“Don't you think it would be wonderful to get rid of everything and everybody and just go somewhere where you don't know a soul?” Haruki Murakami, “Norwegian Wood” - 1987

“whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon...” Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick” - 1851

“Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist's shop.” C. S. Lewis, “The Screwtape Letters” - 1942

“The fear of appearances is the first symptom of impotence.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Crime and Punishment” - 1867

“Society is endangered not by the great profligacy of a few, but by laxity of morals amongst all.” Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” - 1840

Related topics

freedom escape environment friendship happiness value loneliness morality mirror education progress individuality solitude love madness men women life fear knowledge

Related authors

Pope Francis (3)
William Shakespeare (2)
Jane Austen (2)
Oscar Wilde (2)
Henry David Thoreau (2)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2)
Aldous Huxley (2)
Ayn Rand (2)
Adam Smith (2)
Honoré de Balzac (2)
Karl Marx (2)
Thomas Paine (2)
Jean-Paul Sartre (2)
John F. Kennedy (2)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1)
Mark Twain (1)
Charlotte Brontë (1)
Herman Melville (1)
G. K. Chesterton (1)
C. S. Lewis (1)

Related sources

Laudato si' (3)
State of the Union Address (2)
Self-Reliance (2)
Brave New World (2)
The Fountainhead (2)
The Wealth of Nations (2)
Letters of Two Brides (2)
Das Kapital (2)
Common Sense (2)
Nausea (2)
Walden (2)
Othello (1)
Northanger Abbey (1)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
An Ideal Husband (1)
The Importance of Being Earnest (1)
Cymbeline (1)
Jane Eyre (1)
Moby-Dick (1)
What's Wrong with the World (1)