Quotes About Society

All children in Madagascar were raised genderless and forbidden to choose a gender until reaching adulthood. Even then, many didn't choose a single state of being. Some, like Jerico, found fluidity to be their nature.

A self-important dictator gives permission for his subjects to blame the world's ills on those least able to defend themselves. A haughty queen gives permission to slaughter in the name of God. 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.

You know the real reason unwinding keeps going strong, Miss Risa Ward? It isn't because of the parts we want for ourselves--it's because of the things we're willing to do to save our children. Imagine that. We're willing to sacrifice the children we don't love for the ones we do. And we call ourselves civilized!

mas a ilusão de propósito é fundamental para uma população bem ajustada.

submission. Is that the world you want to live in?

Color shouldn't matter" I was always taught—and always believed. But there's a big difference between "shouldn't" and "doesn't." Privilege is all about not seeing that gap.

Now there was a supply of anonymous parts for anyone who wanted them. And even if you didn't want younger hands or brighter eyes, there were advertisements everywhere to convince you that you did. 'A new you from the inside out!' the billboards said. 'Add fifty years to your life.' Sonia shakes her head bitterly. They created want...and want turned to need...and unwinding became woven into the fabric of everything.

That's what you are now. TROUBLE in caps-lock. Then she puts her cane down, and softens a bit. "That's not your fault, though. You didn't ask to be born, and you didn't ask to be unwound, either.

Of course, the bad scythes weren't all in the past. But instead of bad they were now called innovative and forward-thinking. Like the innovative bloodbaths of Scythe Goddard and his killer cronies.

How can you walk away," Connor finally says, "when they're about to overthrow the Cap-17 law?

The Thunderhead gave us a perfect world. The utopia that our ancestors could only dream of is our reality.

very few of the jobs are necessary, since they could all be accomplished by machines—but the illusion of purpose is critical to a well-adjusted population.

These people were caricatures of themselves, he thought. They conformed so closely to their culture of nonconformity that there was a uniformity to them, defeating the whole purpose.

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

power comes infected with the only disease left to us: the virus called human nature

No one says a word. It's like a moment of silence for the many kids lost to that great unwinding machine. The industry, as Sonia had called it. A mill of commerce trafficking in flesh, working outside the realm of ethics yet within the law and within the complete consent of society.

very few of the jobs are necessary, since they could all be accomplished by machines—but the illusion of purpose is critical to a well-adjusted population. —The Thunderhead

There was an odd justice to it. Not so much live-by-the-blade/die-by-the-blade; it was more becoming the blade, and losing oneself. Scythe Faraday had once told him and Citra that they were called scythes rather than reapers, because they were not the ones who killed; they were merely the tool that society used to bring fair-handed death to the world. But once you're the weapon, you're nothing more than a tool for someone else to wield.

It was Hayden who actually came up with the therm Whollies because Unwind and AWOL were negative labels put on them by the world.

And those news reports - how exciting they were. Filled with all nature of criminal activity. Your neighbor could be a salesperson of illegal chemicals of recreation. Ordinary people would take life without the permission of society. Angry individuals would take possession of vehicles they didn't own, then lead law enforcement officers in dangerous pursuits on uncontrolled roadways.

Somewhere behind Anastasia, Scythe Asimov summed it up best. We have just entered the worst of all possible worlds.

While freedom gives rise to growth and enlightenment, permission allows evil to flourish in a light of day that would otherwise destroy it. A self-important dictator gives permission for his subjects to blame the world's ills on those least able to defend themselves...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.

If technology allows us a new way to give, how could it be wrong?

It's just that unwinding makes slavery look good. It's always the lesser of two evils.