Human Society Quotes

• A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and his feelings as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.

  Albert Einstein

  Nature, Compassion, Animal

  Albert Einstein (2010). “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein”, p.339, Princeton University Press

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  A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Beauty, Spiritual

  Letter of 1950, as quoted in "The New York Times", March 29, 1972.

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• The human society is the extension of the individual. Therefore, if we really want a radical change, if we want a better world, we need to change individually.

  Samael Aun Weor

  Needs, World, Want

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• There has never yet been a human society worthy of the name of civilization. Civilization remains a remote ideal.

  Edward Abbey

  Civilization, Names, Worthy

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.23, RosettaBooks

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• A global human society, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable

  Thabo Mbeki

  Future, Islands, Sea

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• We need love - an awesome love grounded in the evolutionary potential for life on Earth - to become the organizing principle for human society.

  Marianne Williamson

  Needs, Earth, Principles

  Source: rayhemachandra.com

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• Human society, the world, and the whole of mankind is to be found in the alphabet.

  Victor Hugo

  World, Alphabet, Language

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• Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.

  Aristotle

  Animal, Men, Self

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• Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.

  Stephen King

  Falling In Love, Fear, Home

  Stephen King (2008). “The Stand”, p.454, Hachette UK

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• His (Christ's) appearance in our midst has made it undeniably clear that changing the human heart and changing human society are not separate tasks, but are as interconnected as the two beams of the cross.

  Henri Nouwen

  Heart, Two, Tasks

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• Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed.

  E. B. White

  Change, Dark, Clouds

  Letter to M. Nadeau, March 30, 1973.

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• If two people stare at each other for more than a few seconds, it means they are about to either make love or fight. Something similar might be said about human societies. If two nearby societies are in contact for any length of time, they will either trade or fight. The first is non-zero-sum social integration, and the second ultimately brings it.

  Robert Wright

  Zero, Mean, Fighting

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• Physically there is nothing to distinguish human society from the farm-yard except that children are more troublesome and costly than chickens and calves and that men and women are not so completely enslaved as farm stock.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Children, Business, Men

  Getting Married (1911) preface "The Personal Sentimental Basis of Monogamy"

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• Once poverty is gone, we'll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They'll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society - how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.

  Muhammad Yunus

  Business, Museums, Luxury

  Muhammad Yunus (2007). “Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism”, p.223, PublicAffairs

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• Gandhi is the other person. I believe Gandhi is the only person who knew about real democracy — not democracy as the right to go and buy what you want, but democracy as the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you. Democracy begins with freedom from hunger, freedom from unemployment, freedom from fear, and freedom from hatred. To me, those are the real freedoms on the basis of which good human societies are based.

  Vandana Shiva

  Real, Believe, Responsibility

  "In the Footsteps of Gandhi: An Interview with Vandana Shiva". Interview with Scott London, www.globalresearch.ca. February 03, 2016.

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• Well, the first thing is that truth and power for me form an antithesis, an antagonism, which will hardly ever be resolved. I can define in fact, can simplify the history of human society, the evolution of human society, as a contest between power and freedom.

  Wole Soyinka

  Firsts, Facts, Evolution

  FaceBook post by Wole Soyinka from Jan 23, 2015

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• Patriarchy is like the elephant in the room that we don't talk about, but how could it not affect the planet radically when it's the superstructure of human society?

  Ani DiFranco

  Elephants, Rooms, Planets

  "'I'm considering a revolution'". Interview with Kira Cochrane, www.theguardian.com. October 9, 2007.

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• All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Leadership, Opportunity

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• The endurance of the inequalities of life by the poor is the marvel of human society.

  James Anthony Froude

  Endurance, Poor, Inequality

  James Anthony Froude (1894). “Caesar: a Sketch”

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• I claim that human mind or human society is not divided into watertight compartments called social, political and religious. All act and react upon one another.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Religious, Political, Mind

  Mahatma Gandhi (1967). “The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi”, p.106, Rajpal & Sons

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• The institutions of human society treat us as parts of a machine. They assign us ranks and place considerable pressure upon us to fulfill defined roles. We need something to help us restore our lost and distorted humanity. Each of us has feelings that have been suppressed and have built up inside. There is a voiceless cry resting in the depths of our souls, waiting for expression. Art gives the soul's feelings voice and form.

  Daisaku Ikeda

  Karma, Art, Peace

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• Unions are susceptible to the same ills that befall all human societies.

  Tony Kushner

  Unions, Humans, Susceptible

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• To love our neighbor as ourselves is such a truth for regulating human society, that by that alone one might determine all the cases in social morality.

  John Locke

  Love, Pregnancy, Might

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• In most of history, societies have not been free. It's a very rare society that is free. The default condition of human societies is tyranny.

  Michael Novak

  Default, Tyranny, Humans

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• The repossession by women of our bodies will bring far more essential change to human society than the seizing of the means of production by workers.

  Adrienne Rich

  Mean, Aquariums, Essentials

  Adrienne Rich (1976). “Of woman born motherhood as experience and institution”

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