Quotes About Society

Kitsch is the aesthetic ideal of all politicians and all political parties and movements. Those of us who live in a society where various political tendencies exist side by side and competing influences cancel or limit one another can manage more or less to escape the kitsch inquisition: the individual can preserve his individuality; the artist can create unusual works. But whenever a single political movement corners power, we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch.

I've always had the sense that my life is run by other people.

It's a vicious circle, people are going deaf because music is played louder and louder. But because they're going deaf it has to be played louder still.

The young can't help playacting; themselves incomplete, they are thrust by life into a completed world where they are compelled to act fully grown. They therefore adopt forms, patterns, models— those that are in fashion, that suit, that please—and enact them.

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.

Not only have people stopped trying to be attractive when they are out among other people, but they are no longer even trying not to look ugly!

He has sent her back to the world she tried to escape...

It is a tragicomic fact that our proper upbringing has become an ally of the secret police. We do not know how to lie.

Do kláÅ¡tera odcházel kdysi lidé, kteÃ…â"¢í nesouhlasili se svÄ›tem a nebrali jeho trápení ani radosti za své. Ale naÅ¡e století odmítá pÃ…â"¢iznat lidem právo nesouhlasit se svÄ›tem.

por qué tengo que ser madura para todo, como maduro ser juzgado, expulsado, acusado de trotskista, como persona madura ser enviado a la mina, pero por qué en el amor no puedo ser una persona madura y debo tragar toda la inmadurez?

Kanalizacione cevi koje svojim ograncima dopiru do naših stanova brižljivo su skrivene od našeg pogleda, i mi ne znamo ništa o nevidljivoj Veneciji govana iznad koje su podignuta naša kupatila, spava?e sobe, plesne dvorane i parlamenti.

Antes de que se nos olvide, seremos convertidos en kitsch. El kitsch es una estación de paso entre el ser y el olvido.

Un mundo en el que toda la gente se tutea no es el mundo de la amistad generalizada sino el mundo de la falta de respeto generealizada.

No es culpa de los jóvenes el que actúen; no están hechos el todo, pero se encuentran en un mundo que ya está hecho y tienen que actuar como hechos.

la transformation de la musique en bruit est un processus planétaire qui fait entrer l'humanité dans la phase historique de la laideur totale.

Olla naine on Sabinale saatus, mida ta pole endale valinud. Seda, mida me pole endale valinud, ei saa me pidada enda teeneks ega ebaõnneks. Sabina arvab, et osaks antud saatusega on vaja korralist suhet pidada. Mässata selle vastu, et oled sündinud naisena, on niisama sõge, nagu selle üle uhkust tunda.

the young can't help but acting; they're immature, but they're placed in a mature world and have to act as if they were mature. So they put on whatever masks and disguises appeal to them and can be made to fit -- and thy act.

La justicia no es cuestión de hombres. Existe la justicia de las leyes ciegas y crueles y luego hay, quizás, alguna justicia más elevada, pero ésa no la entiendo. Siempre he tenido la sensación de que vivo en este mundo al margen de la justicia.

We live in an age when private life is being destroyed. The police destroy it in Communist countries, journalists threaten it in democratic countries, and little by little the people themselves lose their taste for private life and their sense of it. Life when one can't hide from the eyes of others — that is hell.

Dëshira për rend është njëherësh dëshirë për të vdekur, sepse jeta është vazhdimisht shkelje e rendit. Ose, e kundërta, dëshira për rend është vjega e virtytshme përmes së cilës urrejtja e njeriut për njeriun, i përligj keqtrajtimet.

Hän tuntee olevansa niin yksin rakastaessaan koiraa. Surullinen hymy huulillaan hän tuumii että hänen on salattava Kareninia kohtaan tuntemansa rakkaus visummin kuin hänen olisi salattava uskottomuutensa. Ihmiset paheksuvat koiraa kohtaan tunnettua rakkautta.

Yes," he agreed. "The more indifferent people are to politics, to the interests of others, the more obsessed they become with their own faces. The individualism of our time.

Aujourd'hui l'âme de la foule, qui s'identifiait peut-être jadis aux misérables persécutés, s'identifie à la misère des persécuteurs. Parce que la chasse à l'homme est en notre siècle la chasse aux privilégiés : à ceux qui lisent des livres ou qui ont un chien.

L'anima della folla, che forse un tempo si identificava con i miseri perseguitati, si identifica oggi, con la miseria dei persecutori. Perché nel nostro secolo la caccia all'uomo è caccia ai privilegiati. A quelli che leggono libri o che hanno un cane.