Quotes About Elitism

attempts to maintain aristocratic entitlement through "mystification and concealment," as an 1835 newspaper put it.

Anti-populism is always about the powerful lording it over the weak; the credentialed and the high-born reminding the world that the definitions of goodness and justice and truth are whatever they determine.

The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite

There is...an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents.... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy.

I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.

There is no way around the reality that students are too often wasting their money and obtaining the illusion of an education by gravitating toward courses or majors that either shouldn't exist or whose enrollments should be restricted to the small number of students who intend to pursue them seriously and with rigor. This, too, is one of the many things faculty are not supposed to say out loud, because to resentful parents and hopeful students, it sounds like baseless elitism. It

Populism actually reinforces this elitism, because the celebration of ignorance cannot launch communications satellites, negotiate the rights of US citizens overseas, or provide for effective medications, all of which are daunting tasks even the dimmest citizens now demand and take for granted. Faced with a public that has no idea how most things work, experts likewise disengage, choosing to speak mostly to each other rather than to laypeople.

The histories of mankind that we possess are histories only of the higher class.

'Plutocracy.' It has a perfect nuance: chilly, inaccessible, icy-rich.

Who are the aristocrats now — who are chosen as the best to rule? Those who have money and the brains for money. It doesn't matter what else they have: but they must have money-brains — because they are ruling in the name of money." "The people elect the government," he said. "I know they do. But what are the people? Each one of them is a money-interest.

Jobs was a strong-willed, elitist artist who didn't want his creations mutated inauspiciously by unworthy programmers. To him it would be as if someone off the street added some brush strokes to a Picasso painting or changed the lyrics to a Dylan song.

Frustrated, the educated middle class comes up with elitist theories like '90 per cent of Indians are stupid' or 'most voters are dumb'. None of this is true. The Indian voter is rational. However, he is rational within his own framework. It is important to grasp the demographics and social context of Indian voters.

So, fuck 'em, we say. Fuck the mundane of Mainstream, the elitists of Literature. We're GENRE FICTION and proud of it, proud to wear that brand painted on the backs of our biker's jackets.

To the elitist hedonist, life is the avoidance of boredom and routine.

But an Oxbridge education can make graduates feel that they are members of some privileged élite, destined to lead and make decisions that will be inflicted upon lesser beings. Such élitism must of necessity be based upon expectations that are often unfulfilled. Thus Oxbridge has not only provided Britain with its most notable politicians and civil servants but its most embittered traitors too.

Polls indicated that while women were growing increasingly sensitive about gender discrimination, only a small minority liked to be called feminists. The majority of housewives, indeed, told pollsters that they were largely content with their lives. Many resented being told by elitists that raising families was boring.

Today's symphonic music is sponsored by the upper structures of society.

Evolution is what it is. The upper classes have always died out; it's one of the most charming things about them.

All professions are conspiracies against the laity.

Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds.

Until film is just as easily accessible as a pen or pencil, then it's not completely an art form. In painting, you can just pick up a piece of chalk, a stick, or whatever. In sculpture, you can get a rock. Writing, you just need a pencil and paper. Film has been a very elitist medium. It costs so much money.

I do have strong feelings about the aristocracy: they serve a purpose, but it's a sort of insular strand of society.

There's something strange about theater. My characters consistently demonize elitism, but of course it's taking place in a theater where only so many people can see it. I've been in silly popcorn movies - the kind of thing that as an actor you might feel embarrassed about - but those movies reach many more people.

What isn't for everybody shouldn't be for anybody: the world's opera houses are the reasons we have cardboard cities.