“Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they grow used to everything except to living in a society which has not their own manners.”
Society is the agreement we all live under without ever signing a contract. These quotes examine culture, community, inequality, progress, and the ongoing negotiation between individual freedom and collective responsibility.
“Society is not a disease, it is a disaster. What a stupid miracle that one can live in it.”
“Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they grow used to everything except to living in a society which has not their own manners.”
“Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not exist and develop without the cumulative social efforts of countless generations.”
“All I can ask from society is that it please stop telling me why I should like sports.”
“The winner of the hoop race will be the first to realize her dream, not society's dream, her own personal dream.”
“Drugs are merely the most obvious form of addiction in our society. Drug addiction is one of the things that undermines traditional values.”
“Awareness in our society has flipped all types of injustice on its head.”
“We're in a period where society seems very attracted to flash, and that seeps into people's musical taste.”
“If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.”
“Deep down, the US, with its space, its technological refinement, its bluff good conscience, even in those spaces which it opens up for simulation, is the only remaining primitive society.”
“My definition of a decent society is one that first of all takes care of its losers, and protects its weak.”
“Divorced from the cosmos, from nature, from society and from each other, we have become fractured and fragmented.”
“It's upsetting to be a man in our society.”
“We've turned into a whining society.”
“Because society places a value on masculinity, gay men aspire to it. If you go to a gay club and the doorman says, 'You do realise this is a gay club, don't you lads?' you get all excited because you think, 'Wow, he thought I was straight!'”
“There is so much potential out there in young people and they aren't getting the right information or being encouraged in the right ways. This is our duty as a society.”