There are two ways to aquire the niceties of life: 1) To produce them or 2) To plunder them. When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.
Language both reflects and shapes society. Culture shapes language and then language shapes culture. Little wonder that the words we use to talk to each other, and about each other, are the most important words in our language: they tell us who I am, they tell us who you are, they tell us who 'they' are.
Every step by which an individual substitutes concerted action for isolated action results in an immediate and recognizable improvement in his conditions. The advantages derived from peaceful cooperation and division of labor are universal.
Inasmuch as society cannot go on without discipline of some kind, men were constrained, in the absence of any other form of discipline, to turn to discipline of the military type.
A little of true nonviolence acts in a silent, subtle, unseen way and leavens the whole society.
I was hardly fit for human society. Thus destiny shaped me to be a science fiction writer.
It does seem to me, though, that the countries that gained most from World Summit on the Information Society are those that saw it as an opportunity to engage in more diverse discussion about the issues internally and to seek to raise the quality of debate (both in terms of information and understanding).
An armed society is a free society.
The world, the way we look at women and sexuality, is what needs to change - not our behavior, not who we are, not what we say. It's the intentions that should change. It's the mind-set. Otherwise, we're just going to be a completely confused society with not knowing what to say to one another. The mind-set of when you meet a woman is that you should try and get to know her.
Cynicism is the last refuge of those who don't want to do the work of creating a better society.
Human society is inconceivable unless words are to some extent bonds.
I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshment at five o'clock.
Convenience is not an acceptable foundational value for society. It’s a disease.
However widespread the desire to be free, that is wholly different from a desire to live in a society where others are free.
The common damn'd shun their society.
I used to live in a little city by the sea, and the feeling of isolation - it was not like living in Paris or London. It was a bit apart from the main city, and [it gave me] this feeling of isolation and also being close to nature, with nature as a surrounding and also a frontier, from the society of the world.
Of the total creative effort represented in a finished work, 75 percent or more of a writer's labor goes into designing the story designing story tests the maturity and insight of the writer, his knowledge of society, nature, and the human heart. Story demands both vivid imagination and powerful analytic thought.
To alter the money value of commodities, by altering the value of money, and yet to raise the same money amount by taxes, is then undoubtedly to increase the burthens of society.
Science does not enter a chaotic society to put order into it anymore, to simplify its composition, and to put an end to controversies. It does enter it, but to add new uncertain ingredients. . . to all the other ingredients that make up the collective experiments. When scientists add their findings to the mix, they do not put an end to politics; they add new ingredients to the collective process.
Human society is based on want. Life is based on want. Wild-eyed visionaries may dream of a world without need. Cloud-cuckoo-land. It can't be done.