There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
Society is like a lawn, where every roughness is smoothed, every bramble eradicated, and where the eye is delighted by the smiling verdure of a velvet surface. He, however, who would study nature in its wildness and variety, must plunge into the forest, must explore the glen, must stem the torrent, and dare the precipice.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
To attain excellence in society, an assemblage of qualifications is requisite: disciplined intellect, to think clearly, and to clothe thought with propriety and elegance; knowledge of human nature, to suit subject to character; true politeness, to prevent giving pain; a deep sense of morality, to preserve the dignity of speech; and a spirit of benevolence, to neutralize its asperities, and sanctify its powers.
—Lydia H. Sigourney (1791–1865) American Poetaster, Author
We now have a whole culture based on the assumption that people know nothing and so anything can be said to them.
—Stephen Vizinczey (b.1933) Hungarian-born Canadian Novelist, Literary Critic, Author
Our modern society is engaged in polishing and decorating the cage in which man is kept imprisoned.
—Swami Nirmalananda (1863–1938) Indian Hindu Monk
The secret of success in society is a certain heartiness and sympathy. A man who is not happy in company, cannot find any word in his memory that will fit the occasion; all his information is a little impertinent. A man who is happy there, finds in every turn of the conversation occasions for the introduction of what he has to say. The favorites of society are able men, and of more spirit than wit, who have no uncomfortable egotism, but who exactly fill the hour and the company, contented and contenting.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.
—Emily Bronte (1818–48) English Novelist, Poet
We are more sociable, and get on better with people by the heart than the intellect.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Even a minor event in the life of a child is an event of that child’s world and thus a world event.
—Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) French Philosopher, Psychoanalyst, Poet
Every society honors its live conformists
and its dead troublemakers.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
A champion of the working man has never yet been known to die of overwork.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.
—Unknown
Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other, and thus makes him necessary to society.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man’s future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual’s total development lags behind?
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian Physician, Educator
To train and educate the rising generation will at all times be the first object of society, to which every other will be subordinate.
—Robert Owen (1771–1858) British Social Reformer, Philosopher
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Institutions — government, churches, industries, and the like — have properly no other function than to contribute to human freedom; and in so far as they fail, on the whole, to perform this function, they are wrong and need reconstruction.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
Luck is always waiting for something to turn up. Labor, with keen eyes and strong will, always turns up something. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman will bring news of a legacy. Labor turns out at six o’clock and with busy pen or ringing hammer, lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines. Labor whistles. Luck relies on chance, labor on character.
—Richard Cobden
Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
The ideal society would enable every man and woman to develop along their individual lines, and not attempt to force all into one mould, however admirable.
—J. B. S. Haldane (1892–1964) British Biologist, Geneticist
Music is always a commentary on society.
—Frank Zappa (1940–93) American Rock Guitarist, Singer, Composer
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, the finish by loading honors on your head.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
To understand how any society functions you must understand the relationship between the men and the women
—Angela Davis (b.1944) American Political Activist, Academic
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Any relations in a social order will endure, if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy which qualifies life for immortality.
—George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish Author, Poet, Editor, Critic, Painter
It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.
—B. F. Skinner (1904–90) American Psychologist, Social Philosopher, Inventor, Author
Society is only possible on these terms, that the individual finds therein a strengthening of his own ego and his own will.
—Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) Austrian Economist, Philosopher, Author
Every institution not only carries within it the seeds of its own dissolution, but prepares the way for its most hated rival.
—William Motter Inge (1913–73) American Playwright, Novelist
The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Man, in society, is like a flower blown in its native bud. It is there only that his faculties, expanded in full bloom, shine out, there only reach their proper use.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom-they are the pillars of society.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Society is no comfort to one not sociable.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Societies need rules that make no sense for individuals. For example, it makes no difference whether a single car drives on the left or on the right. But it makes all the difference when there are many cars!
—Marvin Minsky (1927–2016) American Computer Scientist
Self-recognition is necessary to know one’s road, but, knowing the road, the price of the mistakes and perils is worth paying. The following of that road will be all the discipline one needs. Discipline does not mean being molded by outside forces, but sticking to one’s road against the forces that would deflect or bury the soul. People speak of finding one.
—Randolph Bourne (1886–1918) American Writer, Scholar
By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will become happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The only worthwhile achievements of man are those which are socially useful.
—Alfred Adler (1870–1937) Austrian Psychiatrist
Our individual lives cannot, generally, be works of art unless the social order is also.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Without good company all dainties lose their true relish, and like painted grapes, are only seen, not tasted.
—Philip Massinger (1583–1640) English Playwright
Whoever marries the spirit of this age will find himself a widower in the next.
—William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English Anglican Clergyman, Priest, Mystic
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
It is always possible to bind together a considerable number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive the manifestations of their aggression.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
Society is one vast conspiracy for carving one into the kind of statue it likes, and then placing it in the most convenient niche it has.
—Randolph Bourne (1886–1918) American Writer, Scholar
Besides the general infusion of wit to heighten civility, the direct splendor of intellectual power is ever welcome in fine society, as the costliest addition to its rule and its credit.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or anything else, is always a portrait of himself, and the more he tries to conceal himself the more clearly will his character appear in spite of him.
—Samuel Butler
There is one fact that can be established. The only phenomenon which, always and in all parts of the world, seems to be linked with the appearance of writing.
—Claude Levi-Strauss (1908–2009) French Social Anthropologist, Philosopher
The fact is popular art dates. It grows quaint. How many people feel strongly about Gilbert and Sullivan today compared to those who felt strongly in 1890?
—Stephen Sondheim (b.1930) American Musician, Composer, Songwriter
A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Whenever you take a step forward, you are bound to disturb something. You disturb the air as you go forward, you disturb the dust, the ground. You trample upon things. When a whole society moves forward, this trampling is on a much bigger scale; and each thing that you disturb, each vested interest which you want to remove, stands as an obstacle.
—Indira Gandhi (1917–84) Indian Head of State
Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Civilization is unbearable, but it is less unbearable at the top.
—Timothy Leary (1920–96) American Psychologist, Author
The happiness of society is the end of government.
—John Adams (1735–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Society — the only field where the sexes have ever met on terms of equality, the arena where character is formed and studied, the cradle and the realm of public opinion, the crucible of ideas, the world’s university, at once a school and a theatre, the spur and the crown of ambition, the tribunal which unmasks pretension and stamps real merit, the power that gives government leave to be, and outruns the lazy church in fixing the moral sense.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
I think God’s going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding.
—Steven Wright (b.1955) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
No man needs sympathy because he has to work. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
To me, we must learn to spell the word RESPECT. We must respect the rights and properties of our fellowman. And then learn to play the game of life, as well as the game of athletics, according to the rules of society. If you can take that and put it into practice in the community in which you live, then, to me you have won the greatest championship.
—Jesse Owens (1913–80) American Track-and-Field Athlete