Society

A Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than he could be elected Pope of Rome. Both high posts are reserved for men favored by God with an extraordinary genius for swathing the bitter facts of life in bandages of self-illusion. – H.L. Mencken

Scientific discovery consists in the interpretation for our own convenience of a system of existence which has been made with no eye to our convenience at all. – Norbert Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings, 1950

Science is now the craft of the manipulation, substitution and deflection of the forces of nature. What I see coming is a gigantic slaughterhouse, an Auschwitz, in which valuable enzymes, hormones, and so on will be extracted instead of gold teeth. – Erwin Chargaff, Columbia Forum, Summer 1969

Our people have become as processed as our food. – Terri Guillemets

When Gandhi was asked what he thought of Western civilization, he said, “It would be nice.” – Author Unknown

On an average day 7 minutes of news happens. Yet there are currently three full-time, 24-hour news networks. – Jon Stewart

Our current obsession with creativity is the result of our continued striving for immortality in an era when most people no longer believe in an afterlife. – Arianna Stassinopoulos

Social reform aims to improve the condition of the poor by worsening the condition of the rich. – Martin H. Fischer (1879–1962)

Jefferson thought schools would produce free men: we prove him right by putting dropouts in jail. – Benjamin R. Barber

We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork. – Milton Friedman

There is more to life than increasing its speed. – Mohandas K. Gandhi

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. – James A. Baldwin

No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. – Adam Smith

Some people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are. – John W. Gardner

Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards. – Robert Orben

I am as frustrated with society as a pyromaniac in a petrified forest. – A. Whitney Brown

Civilization is unbearable, but it is less unbearable at the top. – Timothy Leary

The first principle of a free society is an untrammeled flow of words in an open forum. – Adlai E. Stevenson

Cockroaches and socialites are the only things that can stay up all night and eat anything. – Herb Caen

What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive? – Irv Kupcinet