Quotes About Society

A leader, you see, is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people. He maintains the level of individuals. Too few individuals, and a people revert to a mob.

A ruling class that lives as ruling classes have lived in all times while, beneath them, a semihuman mass of semislaves exists on the leavings.

What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?

Una de las cosas mas peligrosas en el universo es un pueblo ignorante con motivos reales de resentimiento. Pero no hay nada tan peligroso como una sociedad informada e inteligente que mantenga esos resentimientos.

Não se pode fundamentar a política no amor. As pessoas não se interessam pelo amor: é desordenado demais. Elas preferem o despotismo. O excesso de liberdade engendra o caos. Não podemos permitir isso, podemos? E como transformar o despotismo em algo que se possa amar?

You can't build politics on love," he said. "People aren't concerned with love; it's too disordered. They prefer despotism. Too much freedom breeds chaos. We can't have that, can we? And how do you make despotism lovable?

One of the most dangerous things in the universe is an ignorant people with real grievances. That is nowhere near as dangerous, however, as an informed and intelligent society with grievances. The damage that vengeful intelligence can wreak, you cannot even imagine.

Andy says, I don't understand how they can give loans to people who want to spend two weeks lying on the sand at the goddam Jersey shore and then turn down a woman with three kids hanging on by her fingernails.

Women stand with their arms folded chatting. They don't sit because all they do is stay at home, take care of the children, clean the house and cook a bit and the men need the chairs. The men sit because they are worn out from walking to the Labour Exchange every morning to sign for the dole, discussing the world's pro less and wondering what to do with the rest of the day.

You were the one they used against us, Bruce. The one who played it rough. When the noise started from the parents' groups and the sub-committee called us for questioning... you were the one who laughed... that scary laugh of yours. Sure, we're criminals, you said. We've always been criminals. We have to be criminals.--Kal-El aka Clark Kent aka Superman

Always blame conditions, not men

I am ashamed of my century, but I have to smile.

Modern Americans behave as if intelligence were some sort of hideous deformity.

Hey, you know something people? I'm not black But there's a whole lots a times I wish I could say I'm not white

who are the brain police?

Love lyrics have contributed to the general aura of bad mental health in America.

I think that if a person doesn't feel cynical then they're out of phase with the 20th century. Being cynical is the only way to deal with modern civilization — you can't just swallow it whole.

Socialism produces bad music, bad art, social stagnation and really unhappy people.

world in which we're constantly watched and always distracted.

The Hoover experiment, in the end, hardly realized the happy fantasies about the Engineer King. A very different version of this dream, however, has come to fruition, in the form of the CEOs of the big tech companies. We're not ruled by engineers, not yet, but they have become the dominant force in American life, the highest, most influential tier of our elite.

the blend of absurd, surreal and mundane which gave rise to the adjective kafkaesque

The state we find ourselves in is sinful quite independent of guilt.

In the struggle between yourself and the world, second the world. (Im Kampf zwischen Dir und der Welt, sekundiere der Welt)

È ridicolo come ti sei bardato per questo mondo.