#society

That’s sad. How plastic and artificial life has become. It gets harder and harder to find something…real.” Nin interlocked his fingers, and stretched out his arms. “Real love, real friends, real body parts… ↗

— Jess C. Scott

#cyberpunk #materialism #meaning #plastic-surgery #reality

I am as frustrated with society as a pyromaniac in a petrified forest. ↗

— A. Whitney Brown

#am #forest #frustrated #i #i am

The warrior may fight for gold or for an immediate gain, or for something to take home for the winter to feed the family. The soldier is part of a more complex society. He's fighting for a group ethic of some sort. ↗

— C. J. Cherryh

#ethic #family #feed #fight #fighting

It was possible, no doubt, to imagine a society in which wealth, in the sense of personal possessions and luxuries, should be evenly distributed, while power remained in the hands of a small privileged caste. But in practice such a society could not long remain stable. For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance. ↗

— George Orwell

#fear-of-the-future #inequality #poverty #society #imagination

The criminalization of debt, then, was the criminalization of the very basis of human society. It cannot be overemphasized that in a small community, everyone normally was both a lender and borrower. One can only imagine the tensions and temptations that must have existed in a community—and communities, much though they are based on love, in fact because they are based on love, will always also be full of hatred, rivalry and passion—when it became clear that with sufficiently clever scheming, manipulation, and perhaps a bit of strategic bribery, they could arrange to have almost anyone they hated imprisoned or even hanged. ↗

— David Graeber

#debt #hate #love #society #temptation

Tomorrow is another opportunity to improve yourself ↗

— Scott A. Reighard

#inspiration #opportunity-society #inspirational

Pedir perdón es humillante y no arregla nada. La solución no es pedir perdón, sino evitar los estallidos que hacen obligatorias las excusas ↗

— Mario Benedetti

#inspirational #intelligence #society #inspirational

Those who most obstinately oppose the most widely-held opinions more often do so because of pride than lack of intelligence. They find the best places in the right set already taken, and they do not want back seats. ↗

— François de La Rochefoucauld

#intelligence

There are Seven Deadly Social Sins: Politics without principle. Wealth without work. Commerce without morality. Pleasure without conscience. Education without character. Science without humility. Worship without sacrifice. ↗

— Mahatma Gandhi

#deadly-sins #education #gandhi #pleasure #politics

That's cool." Hale nodded, unfazed. "But just so you know, that"---he pointed to the piece of metal peeking out from behind the stage---"is a Hurst 5,000 PSI hydraulic spreader-cutter, more commonly know as the Jaws of Life." "So?" "So I'm not a normal boy. ↗

— Ally Carter

#heist-society #life