Quotes About Social dynamics

the difference between how a person treats the powerless versus the powerful is as good a measure of human character as I know.

How people see you first is what they hold hardest in their minds. It is the way of the world. You can step down from a throne, and even if you behave like a farmer in a pigsty, some part in each of them will remember that you did descend from a throne. But if they see only a young man first, a country man, they will resent him stepping up to his throne later, whatever his right, whatever his power.

The more income inequality, the less likely people are to help someone (in an experimental setting) and the less generous and cooperative they are in economic games.

Van der Stel, the thin Afrikaner who spoke of "Kaffirs" and expected blacks to call him "Baas" —but who also had genuine respect for the Zulu scouts, and always listened to their advice.

The seniors look my way before they leave. One girl, not the cheerleader, nods her head, and says, Way to go. I hope you're OK. With hours left in the school year, I have suddenly become popular. Thanks to the big mouths on the lacrosse team, everybody knew what happened before sundown. Mom took me to the hospital to stitch up the cut on my hand. When we got home, there was a message on the machine from Rachel. She wants me to call her.

Even the teachers noticed. Mr. Diaz walked past my locker when Finn was there and said, For the love of all that is holy, you two, please don't breed.) Pg 149

History is the science of people.

modern science was largely conceived of as an answer to the servant problem and ... it is generally practiced by those who lack a flair for conversation.

Sociology, the guilty science, functions best by alarm.

The nature of a society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flow - by the tilt of the social landscape.

Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice--cheating in business, exploitation of the poor--is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence: to us, an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.

My life is spent in perpetual alternation between two rhythms, the rhythm of attracting people for fear I may be lonely and the rhythm of trying to get rid of them because I know that I am bored.

want to say, he didn't come over and say hey because the two of you were too busy stuffing your faces with pizza and he didn't want to interrupt. But I don't dare. I can't afford to burn any bridges with those two. Once they decide to freeze you out, you're done for. I've seen it happen. I'm hanging off the side of a precipice as it is, and the only thing keeping me there is Elaine. I look at her, and she shakes her head slightly.

She always says people's names like I should already know who they are.

Always the most beautiful girl in the room," Kimmie said. "No wonder everyone hates you.

The only thing that could spoil a day was people. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.

The connectors have gained the upper hand. We isolationists languish in the caves. Take

Using a well-worn metaphor, culture can be viewed as the software that runs the hardware of human society.

And by "I came to the realization", I mean Derek eventually told me, "We're flirting, can we please have some space?" Fair enough, Derek. Fair enough. So, I, Corin Cadence, master of understanding human mating rituals, left that room to the two of them and tried not to think about that too much.

Oh, she meant my team members. I hadn't really processed most of them as friends yet, other than Patrick. I still wasn't sure I could call Marissa a friend; I barely knew her. Jin was closer, but he was more of a business associate. Probably.

New York is a city of eight million people, approximately seven million of whom will be furious when they hear you were in town and didn't meet them for an expensive dinner, five million furious you didn't visit their new baby, three million furious you didn't see their new show, one million furious you didn't call for sex, but only five actually available to meet you. It is completely reasonable to call none of them.

Gay people will eat other gay people alive.

How two such charming women as Mrs. Brandon and Peggy can tolerate such a bounder as Francis beats me. I don't mean there's anything wrong with him, but he looks so damned pleased with himself.

They weren't sorry Catherine was dead at all. Certainly they hadn't particularly liked her when she was alive. Lisa had called her a stuck-up southern cow only last week, when Mr Scott had read out a chunk of her essay on Steinbeck. They were enjoying every minute of this. They weren't in the least sorry that Catherine would never take her place again in the front row for English. But she didn't say