Quotes About Social norms

You mean that a Frenchman could share with a friend and yet not go to prison?' 'Share? Do you mean unite? If both are of age and avoid public indecency, certainly.' 'Will the law ever be that in England?' 'I doubt it. England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.

You are not to say 'stink,' " interrupted Helen; "at least, you may say it, but you must pretend you are being funny while you say it.

Girls like Lucy were charming to look at, but Mr. Beebe was, from rather profound reasons, somewhat chilly in his attitude towards the other sex, and preferred to be interested rather than enthralled.

Ser homossexual num ambiente britânico formal e legalmente avesso ao que era visto como um desvio da norma levou sem dúvida Forster a dar ao corpo seu devido valor. Não escondeu suas preferências sexuais dos amigos próximos mas nunca as assumiu publicamente; manteve um longo relacionamento com um homem casado embora ele mesmo, Forster... vivesse sozinho — ou com a mãe.

the actual deed of sex seemed to him unimaginative, and best veiled in night. Between men it is inexcusable, between man and woman it may be practised since nature and society approve, but never discussed nor vaunted.

'No means no' is puritanism.

When I was young, I had this feeling that there was this handbook that I had never gotten that explained how to be, how to laugh, what to wear, how to stand by yourself in the hallway. Everyone looked so natural - like they all practiced and knew exactly what to do - even the way they pushed their hair out of their face.

The way of the world is to make laws, but follow custom.

Where a man is forceful, a woman is shrill.

It's fine to discuss money in France, as long as you're complaining that you don't have enough, or boasting about getting a bargain.

I order food like a normal human being. If I'm out to lunch, I'm going to order three courses like everybody else. I'm not going to feel like some kind of freak.

Sylvia was a lady and would not allow herself really to care for the person in the world for whom it would be least decent of her to care...But

I feel a lot of people don't know what high school is - including those who are in it. My material is provided to give them some perspective. People are stupid. They never stop to question things. They just accept. Can you imagine a nation who never questions the validity of cheerleaders and pom-poms?

Gender is more of a continuum than we are willing to admit when we hit the restroom.

Books such as 'The Rules' and 'He's Just Not That Into You' need to go out of the window.

Even Tom Sawyer had a girlfriend and to talk about adults without talking about their sex drives is like talking about a window without glass.

Every night that I eat at home I set a proper table and make a civilized meal. Single women—especially old ones—tend to skip meals or eat out of opened cans. Louise is especially guilty of this.

But in Japan, there are two very specific words to define these selves: tatemae, or the presentation of your public self, and honne, how you really feel.

In the 1950s, the Southern social order was as plain to the eye as charcoal in a snowbank. From the perspective of a small fair-skinned boy, it was about as much a topic for considered thought as breathing in and out.

But I'd rather look ridiculous when everybody else does than plain and sensible all by myself.

Janet did not believe it was feasible to be single; to Janet a bachelor eked out his living on the margins of society, orbiting the married couples wild-eyed and feral as a homeless man at a polo party. A single man, to Janet, was superior in the social hierarchy only to a single woman--this last a life form that was repellent but fortunately short-lived, naked and glistening as it gobbled its way out of its larval cocoon.

Lissianna said, smacking Thomas in the arm. "What were you thinking? They don't waltz here." "I was thinking I didn't want my uncle clasping my butt, and our chests rubbing together as he stepped on my feet while trying to shuffle me around the floor," Thomas answered dryly.

Not smoking is not an achievement. Like virginity, it comes standard.

Raihana didn't know what to say to a man who was not her husband or relative. How could Kabir and Layla ask her to speak to this stranger? What did they want out of her? And then it struck her