Quotes About Society

Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future

The most vital lesson to be learned from the Holocaust era is that Auschwitz was possible because the enemy suceeded in dividing, in separating, in splitting human society, nation against nation, Christian against Jew, young against old. And not enough people cared.

For today, thanks to recently discovered documents, the evidence shows that in the early days of their accession to power, the Nazis in Germany set out to build a society in which there simply would be no room for Jews. Toward the end of their reign, their goal changed: they decided to leave behind a world in ruins in which Jews would seem never to have existed

The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine

The owner was this very thin woman who looked sort of bitchy, which, think about it, most very thin women do-even when they smile, it's like grimacing. Fat people are often miserable too, but at least they LOOK jolly even though it's really mostly them apologizing, like, Sorry, sorry, sorry I'm offending your idea of bodily aesthetics, Sorry I'm clogging my arteries and giving the thumbs-up to diabetes.

there must be something she wanted; and that therefore she was no lady.

In reality there is no normal. Normal is something people have agreed to invent so we have something to compare ourselves to. Normal should be the least of your worries.

A fish and a bird may indeed fall in love, but where shall they live?

Now imagine a life in which every day a person is presented with not two or even three but dozens of choices, and you can begin to grasp why the modern world has become, even with all its advantages, a neurosis-generating machine of the highest order.

I always hated hearing old people yammering on like this when I was young. And I do what to assure you: I'm aware that many thing were not better in the 1940s. Underarm deodorants and air-conditioning were woefully inadequate, for instance, so everybody stank like crazy, especially in the summer, and also we had Hitler.

All too often, those of us who choose to remain childless are accused of being somehow unwomanly or unnatural or selfish, but history teaches us that there have always been women who went through life without having babies.

Now, I cannot imagine where women ever got the idea that they must be perfect in order to be loved or successful. (Ha ha ha! Just kidding! I can totally imagine: We got it from every single message society has ever sent us! Thanks, all of human history!)

You don't have to live like this because people tell you it's the only way. You're not handcuffed to your culture!

Ah, lovely adolescence—when the "talented" are officially shunted off from the herd, thus putting the total burden of society's creative dreams on the thin shoulders of a few select souls, while condemning everyone else to live a more commonplace, inspiration-free existence! What a system . . . )

I was struck - not for the first time in my years of travel - by how isolating contemporary American society can seem by comparison. Where I came from, we have shriveled down the notion of what constitutes 'a family unit' to such a tiny scale that it would probably be unrecognizable as a family to anybody in one of these big, loose, enveloping Hmong clans. You almost need an electron microscope to study the modern Western family these days.

I'm aware that many things were not better in the 1940s. Underarm deodorants and air-conditioning were woefully inadequate, for instance, so everybody stank like crazy, especially in the summer, and also we had Hitler.

and in this shallow world a pretty face means everything.

For one thing, it will freak people out. I believe that enjoying your work with all your heart is the only truly subversive position left to take as a creative person these days. It's such a gangster move, because hardly anybody ever dares to speak of creative enjoyment aloud, for fear of not being taken seriously as an artist. So say it. Be the weirdo who dares to enjoy.

Ó, édes serdülÅ'kor – amikor a "tehetségeseket" hivatalosan is elkülönítik a hordától, hogy ily módon a néhány kiválasztott lélek gyenge vállaira helyezzék az egész társadalom kreativitással kapcsolatos ábrándjainak terhét, miközben mindenki mást egy sokkal hétköznapibb, inspirációmentes létezésre kárhoztatnak.

There was no better path to autonomy for an ambitious young businesswoman than to be married off to a respectable corpse.

I'm disappointed in everybody," she said after a long silence. "In who, exactly?" I was thinking she would say the Nazis. "The adults," she said. "All of them. How did they let the world get so out of control?

I'm disappointed in everybody,' she said after a long silence. 'In who, exactly?' I was thinking she would say the Nazis. 'The adults,' she said. 'All of them. How did they let the world get so out of control?' 'I don't know, honey. But I'm not sure anybody out there really knows what they're doing.

Maybe you remember...what a powerful impact the word fuck used to have in our society--back before everybody and thier children started saying it 10 times a day before breakfast

but she was old, and old women do tend to get pushed aside at big gatherings—even when they have footed the bill for that gathering.