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Quotes About Society

Society is endangered not by the great profligacy of a few, but by the laxity of morals amongst all.
~ Alexis de Tocqueville
I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.
~ Alexis de Tocqueville
Society was cut in two: those who had nothing united in common envy; those who had anything united in common terror.
~ Alexis de Tocqueville
Slavery...dishonors labor. It introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the powers of the mind and benumbs the activity of man.
~ Alexis de Tocqueville
I guess music, particularly the blues, is the only form of schizophrenia that has organised itself into being both legal and beneficial to society.
~ Alexis Korner
to Vaneigem and the Situationists who by shrewd use of collage and juxtaposition exposed both the poverty and richness of slogans, and the thinly veiled hypocrisy of a "spectacular" society which by not respecting words abuses people, and by insulting the intelligence creates a state of political cretinisation in which the many and various forms of authoritarian control dominate.
~ Alexis Lykiard
A society in which no one is willing to risk being called a troublemaker is a place where power is certain to be abused.
~ Alfie Kohn
I realized that this is what many people in our society seem to want most from children: not that they are caring or creative or curious, but simply that they are well behaved. A "good" child—from infancy to adolescence—is one who isn't too much trouble to us grown-ups.
~ Alfie Kohn
Instead, you would probably hear, "No rewards and punishments?? Then how will we get our kids to do what they're told, follow the rules, and take their place in a society where certain things will be expected of them whether they like it or not?" Indeed, there is evidence that greater concern about social
~ Alfie Kohn
We complain loudly about such things as the sagging productivity of our workplaces, the crisis of our schools, and the warped values of our children. But the very strategy we use to solve those problems—dangling rewards like incentive plans and grades and candy bars in front of people—is partly responsible for the fix we're in. We are a society of loyal Skinnerians, unable to think our way out of the box we have reinforced ourselves into.
~ Alfie Kohn
Casas enfiladas, casas enfiladas, casas enfiladas, Cuadrados, cuadrados, cuadrados, casas enfiladas. Las gentes ya tienen el alma cuadrada, ideas en fila y angula en la espalda; yo mismo he vertido ayer una lagrima, Dios mio, cuadrada.
~ Alfonsina Storni
I think the proposition still holds good that men of letters who aspire to high distinction do well not to disdain altogether the politics of their time.
~ Alfred Austin
The man who gives his own decisions priority over society is a criminal.
~ Alfred Bester
If a man's got talent and guts to buck society, he's obviously above average. You want to hold on to him. You straighten him out and turn him into a plus value. Why throw him away? Do that enough and all you've got left are the sheep.
~ Alfred Bester
We don't punish criminals in our enlightened age, we cure 'em; and the cure is worse than punishment.
~ Alfred Bester
History is a novel for which the people is the author.
~ Alfred de Vigny
A lot of the things that will really improve the world fortunately aren't dependent on Washington doing something different.
~ Bill Gates
George Washington participated as a vestryman in his local congregation, but that didn't really imply any particular kind of religious belief. This was necessary in order to participate in the society.
~ Matthew Stewart
It teaches us how to run our lives individually. How to run our families, how to run our churches. But it teaches us how to run all our public policy and everything in society. And that's the reason, as your congressman, I hold the Holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I'll continue to do that.
~ Paul Broun
So we have broad bipartisan support for the bill, and it's my hope that we can build on some of the things that have been talked about in Washington involving building a larger ownership society.
~ Harold Ford, Jr.
Clinton feels a profound alienation from the Washington culture here, and I happen to agree with him.
~ Bob Woodward
This is the greatest society in all of human history, the greatest country ever. Many of the decisions being made in Washington today by both parties are threatening that greatness. And if we stay on this road we're on right now, our children are going to be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country.
~ Marco Rubio
I think in Washington, D.C., a lot of people are talking down about business.
~ Bob McDonnell
Healthy debate has been replaced by automatic sensors that eliminate the need for actual talking during a filibuster - a la 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.' Robust debate is necessary in a democratic society. Instead, our discourse has been relegated to media spin by expert entertainers.
~ Douglas Wilder