Quotes About Society

I now knew that all of us were prostitutes who sold themselves at varying prices, and that an expensive prostitute was better than a cheap one.

Ako se neko u vasem drustvu ubije pistoljem clanovi njegove porodice gube pravo na osiguranje. Ako on to ucini cigaretama ne gube pravo. Ako vam lekar pomogne u samoubistvu, to se naziva ubistvom, a ako vam to ucini duvanska kompanija, to se naziva trgovinom.

Having invited these performances in the first place, the media justified covering them because they were receiving media attention... The result was to make of modern society one giant Heisenberg effect in which the media were not really reporting what people did; they were reporting what people did to get media attention.

The fear of not living is a deep, abiding dread of watching your own potential decompose into irredeemable disappointment when 'should be' gets crushed by what is. Sometimes I think it would be easier to die than to face that, because 'what could have been' is much more highly regarded than 'what should have been.' Dead kids are put on pedestals, but mentally ill kids get hidden under the rug.

What he's really saying is: Please be a human being. With a life so full of rules and regiments, it's so easy to forget that's what they are. She knows—she sees—how often compassion takes a back seat to expediency.

the first sign of civilization is always trash.

Which is worse, Risa often wondered, to have tens of thousands of babies that no one wanted or to silently make then go away before they were even born

we must always be vigilant, because power comes infected with the only disease left to us: the virus called human nature.

if more people had been organ donors, unwinding never would have happened...but people like to keep what's theirs, even after they're dead.

Would you rather die, or be unwound?

Incredible. It never ceases to amaze Starkey how far society will go to protect the children it loves and to discard the ones it doesn't.

How can you pass laws about things that nobody knows? They do it all the time, says Hayden. That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.

does a sick society get so used to its illness that it can't remember being well? what if the memory is too dangerous for the people who like things the way they are?

finding easy scapegoats for complicated problems had been a human pastime since the first mob of cavemen struck someone down with a rock.

In a perfect world mothers would all want their babies, and strangers would open up their homes to the unloved. In a perfect world everthing would be either black or white, right or wrong, and everyone would know the difference. But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is.

of course, if more people had been organ donors, unwinding never would have happened... but people like to keep what's theirs, even after their dead. It didnt take long for ethics to be crushed by greed. Unwinding became big business, and people let it happen

The illusion of purpose is critical to a well-adjusted population.

The nation was tearing itself apart over pro-life and pro-choice but completely ignored the problems of the kids who were already here. I mean, no schools, no work, no clue if they'd even have a future. They just went nuts!

There's a lot written about killers from the mortal age –monsters like Jack the Ripper, or Charlie Manson, or Cyber Sally –and the only difference between them and Goddard is that people let Goddard get away with it. The mortals knew how wrong it was, but somehow we've forgotten.

People can read anything, but no one does. All they do is play games and watch cat holograms.

An arrogant head of state gives permission to all nature of hate as long as it feeds his ambition. And the unfortunate truth is, people devour it. Society gorges itself, and rots. Permission is the bloated corpse of freedom.

There isn't one single thing that will end unwinding. It will take a hodgepodge of random events that come together in just the right way and at just the right time to remind society it's got a conscience. -Sonia

Just because the law says it, that doesn't make it true. Yeah, well, just because the law says it, it doesn't make it false, either. It's only the law because a whole lot of people thought abou it, and decided it made sense. (...) But if it weren't for the law, would you still believe it?

Are you calling me stupid?says Emby. I think I just did. Hayden laughs. Hey, the Mouth Breather's right-unwinding does help people. If it wasn't for unwinding, there would be bald guys again-and wouldn't that be horrible?