Quotes about Society

Civilization today reminds me of an ape with a blowtorch playing in a room full of dynamite. It looks like the monkeys are about to operate the zoo, and the inmates are taking over the asylum.

What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a motor car?

In an age that has thrown off all tradition, the only rebellion possible is orthodoxy.

What we do is not as important as what we are. Our functionalistic modern society tends to reduce our being to our function. What is the first question we ask about someone? "What does he do?" But love never asks that question first. The first question for love is always "Who are you?" rather than "What do you do?" Being is prior to doing, and love's realism refuses to reverse that real order.

Only when there is virtue in souls can there be peace and happiness in society.

The major heresies of our day are not about God but about man.

It is often said that we live in a youth culture. It's a lie. We live in an old culture. We idolize youth because we are old. We are tired and bored. Ancient cultures respected the old because those cultures were young. They were not bored.

Politics and religion have always worked in tandem as the primary forces that control humanity. Politics compels compliance by authority, while religion draws compliance by attraction. When these two combine forces, their power becomes virtually absolute.

People who disregard the Bible may someday get what they want—a society where the Bible is no longer read or proclaimed, and where they can freely sin without Scripture confronting their conscience. But they may get more than they bargained for—a society without the moral compass of Scripture will self-destruct from moral decay and decadence.

People no longer rely on the Bible as either their standard for living or their source of truth. In fact, few people even bother to read it anymore.

The great challenge which faces us is to assure that, in our society of big-ness, we do not strangle the voice of creativity, that the rules of the game do not come to overshadow its purpose, that the grand orchestration of society leaves ample room for the man who marches to the music of another drummer.

The Duke of Shê asked about government. The Master said, When the near approve and the distant approach.