Quotes About Society

She lacked the sheen of money, muscular good health, good skin, good clothes.

All ran to meet their chains thinking they secured their freedom, for although they had enough reason to feel the advantages of political establishment, they did not have enough experience to foresee its dangers.

In fact, the real source of all thosedifferences, is that the savage lives within himself, whereas thecitizen, constantly beside himself, knows only how to live in theopinion of others; insomuch that it is, if I may say so, merely fromtheir judgment that he derives the consciousness of his own existence.

In the strict sense of the term, a true democracy has never existed, and never will exist. It is against natural order that the great number should govern and that the few should be governed.

Dizer que um homem se dá gratuitamente é uma afirmação absurda e inconcebível; tal ato é ilegítimo e nulo, tão-somente porque aquele que o pratica não está de posse do seu bom-senso. Dizer a mesma coisa de todo um povo é supor uma nação de loucos e a loucura não cria direito.

I believe compulsory labor is less opposed to liberty than taxes.

He ahí las pruebas funestas de que la mayor parte de nuestros males son obra nuestra, casi todos los cuales hubiéramos evitado conservando la manera de vivir simple, uniforme y solitaria que nos fue prescrita por la Naturaleza. Si ella nos ha destinado a ser sanos, me atrevo casi a asegurar que el estado de reflexión es un estado contra la naturaleza, y que el hombre que medita es un animal degenerado.

L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers.

L'uomo è nato libero e ovunque si trova in catene

What conclusion is to be drawn from this paradox so worthy of being born in our time; and what will become of virtue when one has to get rich at all cost? The ancient political thinkers forever spoke of morals and of virtue; ours speak only of commerce and money.

But why should they blame her? They should blame the men who won't let her alone

nor can a society last if a few people exercise their individuality at the expense of the community.

Estoy solo en medio de estas voces alegres y razonables. Todos estos tipos se pasan el tiempo explicándose, reconociendo con felicidad que comparten las mismas opiniones. ¡Qué importancia conceden, Dios mío, al hecho de pensar todos juntos las mismas cosas!.

There is no need for hell fire in hell. Hell is other people.

Daha çok, ayd?n?n fazladan bir adam, orta s?n?flar?n baÅŸar?s?z bir ürünü, kusurlar? dolay?s?yla ayr?cal?ks?z s?n?flar?n k?y?s?nda yaÅŸayan ve onlara hiçbir zaman kat?lamayan biri olduÄŸunu söyleyemez miyiz?

If all good, respectable people had one face, I'd spit in it.

I'm no use to anybody,' I say. 'I'm a cérébrale, can't you see that?' Thinking how funny a book would be, called 'Just a Cérébrale or You Can't Stop Me From Dreaming'. Only, of course, to be accepted as authentic, to carry any conviction, it would have to be written by a man. What a pity, what a pity!

Wasn't it quite difficult being a wicked girl? Even more difficult than being a good one?

But are you telling me the real secret, how to be exactly like everybody else? Tell me, for I am sure you know. If it means being deaf, then I'll be deaf. And if it means being blind, then I'll be blind.

when you are dead to the world, the world rescues you, if only to make a figure of fun out of you

Les lois du marché font que seule la demande solvable est comblée. Elles imposent l'ignorance délibérée du fait que l'alimentation est un droit humain, un droit pour tous. (p. 311)

Ordinary French people. Citizens of fear.

We were all moving to a pre-ordained end. You just had to open the papers and read the international news, or the crime reports. We didn't need nuclear weapons. We were killing each other with prehistoric savagery. We were just dinosaurs, and the worst thing of all was that we knew it.

What a strange world this is when you can have as much sex as you like but love is taboo.