A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Society in shipwreck is comfort to all.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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
Society is a wall of very strong masonry, as it now stands; it may be sapped in the course of a thousand years, but stormed in a day—no! You dash your head against it—you scatter your brains, and you dislodge a stone. Society smiles in scorn, effaces the stain, and replaces the stone.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
The change from the individual life of the animal to the group life of civilized man, which becomes a life of ever-expanding complexity as our scientific civilization advances, would obviously be impossible unless the individual learned in ever-increasing measure to subordinate his impulses and interests to the furtherance of the group life.
—Robert Andrews Millikan (1868–1953) American Physicist
Every society by its own practice of living and by the mode of relatedness, of feelings, and perceiving, develops a system of categories which determines the forms of awareness.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Society is always trying in some way to grind us down to a single flat surface.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
A civilized society that can no longer feel outrage, can no longer be civilized.
—Unknown
Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. Our requirements for world leadership, our hopes for economic growth, and the demands of citizenship itself in an era such as this all require the maximum development of every young American’s capacity. The human mind is our fundamental resource.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The crime which bankrupts men and states is job-work—declining from your main design, to serve a turn here and there. Nothing is beneath you, if it is in the direction of your life, nothing is great or desirable if it is off from that. I think we are entitled here to draw a straight line and say that society can never prosper but must always be bankrupts, until every man does that which he was created to do.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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 family is one of nature’s masterpieces.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, 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
Socialism is like a dream. Sooner or later you wake up to reality.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Never speak disrespectfully of Society. Only people who can’t get into it do that.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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
Travelling makes a man wiser, but less happy.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Only the educated are free.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
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
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
Our individual lives cannot, generally, be works of art unless the social order is also.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
The best way to make children good is to make them happy.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Society is no comfort to one not sociable.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Wives are young men’s mistresses; companions for middle age; and old men’s nurses.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
We can imagine a society in which no one could survive as a social being because it does not correspond to biologically determined perceptions and human social needs. For historical reasons, existing societies might have such properties, leading to various forms of pathology.
—Noam Chomsky (b.1928) American Linguist, Social Critic
There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talent.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist