Quotes About Society

In fact, the terror of the public execution created centres of illegality: on execution days, work stopped, the taverns were full, the authorities were abused, insults or stones were thrown at the executioner, the guards and the soldiers; attempts were made to seize the condemned man, either to save him or to kill him more surely; fights broke out, and there was no better prey for thieves than the curious throng around the scaffold.

In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure and the police take the place of pirates

It would be hypocritical or naïve to believe that the law was made for all in the name of all; that it would be more prudent to recognise that it was made for the few and that it was brought to bear upon the others; that in principle it applies to all citizens, but that it is addressed principally to the most numerous and least enlightened classes.

it seems to me that the idea of justice in itself is an idea which in effect has been invented and put to work in different types of societies as an instrument of a certain political and economic power or as a weapon against that power.

the pillory was abolished in France in 1789 and in England in 1837.

in a classless society, I am not sure that we would still use this notion of justice

And the sentence that condemns or acquits is not simply a judgement of guilt, a legal decision that lays down punishment; it bears within it an assessment of normality and a technical prescription for a possible normalization. Today the judge- magistrate or juror certainly does more than 'judge'.

The demand [exigence] for an identity and the injunction to break that identity, both feel, in the same way abusive.

The guillotine takes life almost without touching the body, just as prison deprives of liberty or a fine reduces wealth.

We adults have transformed our society of the spectacle into a pedagogical society whose overwhelming competition, willfully ignorant, has eclipsed the school and the university. The media long ago took over the function of teaching— the time when one hears and sees, the time of seduction and consequence.

Faced with these mutations, we no doubt need to be invent-ing unimaginable novelties, far outside the obsolete frameworks that still format our behaviors, our medias, and our projects—all of which are being drowned in the society of the spectacle.

Mean girls actually grew up to become extremely hateful women.

In our new world, patriarchy isn't only unjust. It is maladaptive.

All over the planet, conflicts between tradition and modernity are being fought on the terrain of women's bodies.

No...if the world demanded their deaths in return for safety, she would have watched it burn.

There are two competing trends in the world today: one is to create a planetary civilization that is tolerant, scientific, and prosperous, but the other glorifies anarchy and ignorance that could rip the fabric of our society.

Some scientists have gone further and have speculated that there is a "God gene" that predisposes the brain to be religious. Since most societies have created a religion of some sort, it seems plausible that our ability to respond to religious feelings might be genetically programmed into our genome.

The handsome and the beautiful may earn the admiration of society, but all the wondrous inventions of the future are a by-product of the unsung, anonymous scientists.

White lies, in fact, are like a grease that makes society run smoothly.

Sin un científico no hay futuro. Los guapos y atractivos personajes pueden ganarse la admiración de la sociedad, pero todas las invenciones maravillosas relacionadas con el futuro son consecuencia del trabajo de científicos anónimos que no reciben por ello elogio alguno.

Algunos críticos afirman también que un verdadero detector de mentiras, como un verdadero telépata, podría hacer que las relaciones sociales ordinarias resultasen muy incómodas, puesto que cierta cantidad de mentira es un «lubricante social» que engrasa las ruedas de la sociedad en movimiento.

Las escuelas de derecho no deben ser espacios inmunes a la discusión política que se da en la sociedad.

La afición a la lectura ha llegado a ser tan peligrosa que el analfabetismo se hace deseable y honroso.

Ratero, si un pobre se mete en casa de un rico, ya se sabe, es un ladrón ¿no? —Un ladrón —asintía el Ratero. —Pero si un rico se mete en casa de un pobre, ¿qué es? —¿Qué es? —repetía estúpidamente el tío Ratero. —¡Una rata!