#society

The negative penalties of the Old Testament case laws were not harsh but just, not a threat to society but rather the necessary judicial foundation of civic freedom… the Old Testament was harsh on criminals because it was soft on victims. ↗

— Gary North

#law #reconstructionism #society #theonomy #freedom

It’s ridiculous to talk about freedom in a society dominated by huge corporations. What kind of freedom is there inside a corporation? They’re totalitarian institutions - you take orders from above and maybe give them to people below you. There’s about as much freedom as under Stalinism. ↗

— Noam Chomsky

#fascism #freedom #society #stalinism #totalitarianism

There are other grounds for believing that gays and lesbians should be respected and protected from oppression: their right to privacy and freedom of action and expression; the "victimless" nature of homosexual relations; and the many valuable contributions that gays and lesbians make to society. ↗

— Simon LeVay

#gays-and-lesbians #respect #freedom

A visitor is a friend, he brings news, good or bad, which is bread to the hungry minds in lonely places. A real friend who comes to the house is a heavenly messenger, who brings the panis angelorum. ↗

— Karen Blixen

#friendship #knowledge #people #society #wisdom

Our society is so fragmented, our family lives so sundered by physical and emotional distance, our friendships so sporadic, our intimacies so 'in-between' things and often so utilitarian, that there are few places where we can feel truly safe. ↗

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

#brokenness #despair #isolation #loneliness #society

She was a thin woman in a mustard-yellow suit, with a yellowish complexion, short-cropped rusty red hair, and a stiff posture. She reminded Reynie of a giant walking pencil. ↗

— Trenton Lee Stewart

#the-mysterious-benedict-society #humor

Before we work on artificial intelligence, why don't we do something about natural stupidity? ↗

— Steve Polyak

#intelligence #intelligence

If non-linear leaps in intelligence and ability are possible, why haven't these effects been observed in our schools? I believe the answer lies in the profound inertia of human thought: when an entire society believes something is impossible, it suppresses, by its very way of life, the evidence that would contradict that belief. ↗

— John Mighton

#inertia #science #society #intelligence

Love as a concrete foundation for an authentically functional civilization requires the around-the-clock labors of forgiveness. Without it, Love fails, Friendship fails, Intelligence fails, Humanity: fails. ↗

— Aberjhani

#civilization #forgiveness #friendship #grace #hope

The D.H.C. for Central London always made a point of personally conducting his new students round the various departments. "Just to give you a general idea," hew would explain to them. For of course some soft of general idea they must have, if they were to do their work intelligently - though as little of one, if they were to be good and happy members of society, as possible. For particulars, as every one knows, make for virtue and happiness; generalities are intellectually necessary evils. Not philosophers but fretsawyers and stamp collectors compose the backbone of society. ↗

— Aldous Huxley

#happiness #huxley #society #intelligence