Quotes About Societies

In Jefferson's mind great historical leaps forward were almost always the product of a purging, which freed societies from the accumulated debris of the past and thereby allowed the previously obstructed natural forces to flow forward into the future. Simplicity and austerity, not equality or individualism, were the messages of his inaugural march. It was a minimalist statement about a purging of excess and a recovery of essence.

the truth is that hierarchies of power and privilege won't disappear, every historian knows this, it's innate to human nature and inherent in all societies in all eras and equally manifests in the animal kingdom, so I can't pretend otherwise

Any attempts to essentialist culture into notions of authenticity only succeed in doing the opposite and revealing the interconnectedness of our societies.

One of the things that put me off writing for a while was that piece of advice everybody gives new writers: 'Write what you know.' Nobody would ever want to read about my boring life! But I do know a lot of things about different societies' cultures and mythologies. The way people were and are.

Writers in repressive societies are considered dangerous. That's why so many of them are in jail.

As a result, these societies became surprisingly passive and reticent. Newspaper men were harder to manage, but seemed largely to coöperate with the government in the end.

Throughout history, when societies face tough economic times, we have seen democratic reforms deferred, decreased trust in government, persecution of minority groups, and a general shrinking of the democratic space.

The slugs are ascending this steep city staircase that leads up to a huge Catholic church, essentially signifying their slow crawl towards death. The work reminds us of religion, mortality, natural decay, and the slow suffocation of commercialized societies.

There's a long record here of being wrong. There's a good reason for it. There are probably multiple reasons. Certainly proliferation is a hard thing to track, particularly in countries that deny easy and free access and don't have free and open societies.

Societies need heroes. So we travel to places where the revisionists cannot dismantle the great.

Societies are healthiest when their radius of trust is broad and when people feel they can influence their own fate.

The sad truth is that societies that demand whistleblowers be martyrs often find themselves without either, and always when it matters the most.

Merrill Morgan, this crop stuff is just about a bunch of nerds who never had a girlfriend their whole lives. They're like thirty now. They make up secret codes and analyze Greek mythology and make secret societies where other guys who never had girlfriends can join in. They do stupid crap like this to feel special. It's a scam. Nerds were doin' it twenty five years ago and new nerds are doing it again.

It seems that soccer tournaments create those relationships: people gathered together in pubs and living rooms, a whole country suddenly caring about the same event. A World Cup is the sort of common project that otherwise barely exists in modern societies.

Love is the beauty and the strength of all societies and the great pleasure of our lives on earth.

The misuse of the term matriarch has led many people to identify any woman present in a household where no male resides a matriarch. Although anthropologists disagree about whether or not matriarchal societies ever really existed, an examination of available information about the supposed social structure of matriarchies proves without any doubt that the social status of the matriarch was in no way similar to that of black women in the United States.

am incredibly thankful to call America home. I have been privileged to travel the world and visit all of its major societies, but to be born in a land of opportunity for anyone willing to work hard is an unfathomable blessing that should never be taken for granted.

I am incredibly thankful to call America home. I have been privileged to travel the world and visit all of its major societies, but to be born in a land of opportunity for anyone willing to work hard is an unfathomable blessing that should never be taken for granted.

Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families.

La condena de Galileo es emblemática de la posición anticientífica de las religiones. Más tarde, en cambio, los protestantes adoptaron una actitud positiva frente a la ciencia, así la teoría de Isaac Newton fue reconocida por la Inglaterra y la Alemania protestantes, en tanto Roma la rechazó como herejía protestante. Esa actitud divergente marcó la separación drástica entre el progreso científico de las sociedades protestantes y el atraso de las católicas.

There is no way that isolated, authoritarian societies can advance very far in science. Science needs free exchange. Einstein said that "everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.

there are more fools than wise men in all societies, and the larger party always gains the upper hand

I have behind me not only the splendid traditions and the annals of more than a thousand years but the living strength and majesty of the Commonwealth and Empire; of societies old and new; of lands and races different in history and origins but all, by God's Will, united in spirit and in aim.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years.