573 Social Quotes

The expression of vanity and self-love becomes less offensive, when it retains something of simplicity and frankness.

I have Social Disease. I have to go out every night. If I stay home one night I start spreading rumors to my dogs.

My social life is much better, since I stopped spending it with other people.

Before my eyes are many miserable scenes, the suffering of others and myself forces my hands to move. I become a machine for writing.

Young men and young women meet each other with much less difficulty than was formerly the case, and every housemaid expects at least once a week as much excitement as would have lasted a Jane Austen heroine throughout a whole novel.

I don't keep any close friends. I don't keep any secrets. I don't need friends. I just tell everybody everything, that's all.

I was hardly fit for human society. Thus destiny shaped me to be a science fiction writer.

Keep up appearances whatever you do.

I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me.

How easy it is to tell tales!

Bores bore each other too; but it never seems to teach them anything.

The aim of flattery is to soothe and encourage us by assuring us of the truth of an opinion we have already formed about ourselves.

Never underestimate the joy people derive from hearing something they already know.

The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.

Although there exist many thousand subjects for elegant conversation, there are persons who cannot meet a cripple without talking about feet.

Better a dish of husks to the accompaniment of a muted lute than to be satiated with stewed shark's fin and rich spiced wine of which the cost is frequently mentioned by the provider.

Oppression is the essence of power.

The telephone is a good way to talk to people without having to offer them a drink.

Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.

Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.

Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game.

People with opinions just go around bothering each other.

One great thing about getting old is that you can get out of all sorts of social obligations just by saying you're too tired.

A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it.

It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine.

Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and drawing them near to the Law.

Solitude is fine, but you need someone to tell you that solitude is fine.

We can drink till all look blue.

The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them.

One good turn asketh another.

A nickname may be the best record of a success. That's what I call putting the face of a joke upon the body of a truth.

Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys.

His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock it never is at home.

I pity bashful men, who feel the pain Of fancied scorn and undeserved disdain, And bear the marks upon a blushing face, Of needless shame, and self-impos'd disgrace.

If I have any desire at all, it is to show the brotherhood of man.

It was hard to have a conversation with anyone; there were so many people talking.

One should write not unskillfully in the running hand, be able to sing in a pleasing voice and keep good time to music; and lastly, a man should not refuse a little wine when it is pressed upon him.

The image of ourselves in the minds of others is the picture of a stranger we shall never see.

I use bits and pieces of others personalities to form my own.

No man is an island, but some of us are pretty long peninsulas.

I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory words, 'Without vanity I may say,' &c., but some vain thing immediately followed. Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.

Mrs Varden was a lady of what is commonly called an uncertain temper - a phrase which being interpreted signifies a temper tolerably certain to make everybody more or less uncomfortable.

I was a looker someone who looked over at every car at every traffic light, hoping something would happen, and almost never finding anyone looking back- always everyone looking forward, and every time I felt stupid. Why should people look over at you? Why would they care?

Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men. (3)

Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words. We shall, however, when occasion demands, enter into discourse sparingly, avoiding such common topics as gladiators, horse-races, athletes; and the perpetual talk about food and drink. Above all avoid speaking of persons, either in the way of praise or blame, or comparison. If you can, win over the conversation of your company to what it should be by your own. But if you should find yourself cut off without escape among strangers and aliens, be silent. (164)

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny.... It is thus with most of us: we are what other people say we are. We know ourselves chiefly by hearsay.

A guest of one's time and not a member of its household.

I think there's a lot of merit in an international economy and global markets, but they're not sufficient because markets don't look after social needs. Markets are designed to allow individuals to look after their private needs and to pursue profit. It's really a great invention and I wouldn't under-estimate the value of that, but they're not designed to take care of social needs.

But in deed, A friend is never known till a man have need.

In place of the bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, shall we have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.

I have no race prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse.

Sometimes I wave to people I don't know. It's very dangerous to wave to someone you don't know because what if they don't have a hand? They'll think you're cocky. 'Look what I got motherfucker! This thing is useful. I'm gonna go pick something up!'

The smell of the library was always the same - the musty odour of old clothes mixed with the keener scent of unwashed bodies, creating what the chief librarian had once described as 'the steam of the social soup'.

When you fall into a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him.

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.

Wine makes a man more pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others.

Mrs. Montagu has dropt me. Now, Sir, there are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by.

Sir, I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.

The full expression of personality depends upon its being inflated by social prestige; it is a social privilege. [p.64]

There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot.

When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm leaving.

Your friend insults the homeless by giving them no credit for having made the decisions that shaped their lives, and demeans them further by declaring them powerless to alter their situations. There're many ways, my dear, to victimize people. The most insidious way is to persuade them that they're victims.

'I don't trust or love anyone. Because people are all creepy. Creepy creepy creeps. Creeping around. Creeping here and creeping there. Creeping everywhere. Crippity crappity creepies.'

I have no use for people who throw their weight around as celebrities, or for those who fawn over you just because you are famous.

You say, as I have often given tongue In praise of what another's said or sung, 'Twere politic to do the like by these; But was there ever a dog that praised his fleas?

Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ, The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.

I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them.I don't care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. My affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over Hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits.

Christ said 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' and when asked 'who is my neighbour?' went on to the parable of the Good Samaritan. If you wish to understand this parable as it was understood by his hearers, you should substitute 'German' or 'Japanese' for Samaritan. I fear many present-day Christians would resent such a substitution, because it would compel them to realize how far they have departed from the teachings of the Founder of their religion.

Tongue -, well that's a wery good thing when it ain't a woman's.

The average celebrity meets in one year ten times the amount of people that the average person meets in his entire life. (in an interview on making 'The Shining')

And the pleasure of course Monsoon was all yours.

You had to be rude at least sometimes and edgy often to be credited with 'personality,' and without that accolade no one at Devon could be anyone. No one, with the exception of course of Phineas.

I was in the airport and there were these big snowboarder guys and they had white masks around their necks, and as soon as they saw me, they put their masks on. So I just went '*cough, cough, cough* You wanna egg rorr?'

I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, 'I hear music', as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work.

If there's a hole in a' your coats, I rede you tent it; A chield's aman you takin' notes, And faith he'll prent it.

A girl called me the other day and said 'Come on over, there's nobody home.' I went over. Nobody was home.

If I look confused it's because I'm thinking.

It is always observable that silence propagates itself, and that the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find any thing to say.

No man is much pleased with a companion, who does not increase, in some respect, his fondness for himself.

Retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom.

Good humour may be said to be one of the very best articles of dress one can wear in society.

Society became my glittering bride.

After all, there are worse things in life than death. If you've ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman, you know what I'm talking about.

Always go to other peoples' funerals otherwise they won't go to yours.

Who is this roody-poo?

The more the merrier.

THE ROCK: 'Before you come in here and start putting little stickers on the Rock's shirt and putting little streamers all over the Rock, the Rock just wants to know-- what is your name?' CLOWN: 'I'm--' ROCK: 'It doesn't MATTER what your name is!' MANKIND: 'Hey, hold it right there! It certainly does matter what her name is, and I'll tell you why! I tried real hard and I went to a lot of expense and time and effort to make this night real special for you! And one by one, you're going to insult my guests and make this night a bad night for me? Sometimes I think you're a very ungrateful little man, Rock!'

Gossip, public, private, social - to fight against it either by word or pen seems, after all, like fighting with shadows. Everybody laughs at it, protests against it, blames and despises it; yet everybody does it, or at least encourages others in it: quite innocently, unconsciously, in such a small, harmless fashion - yet we do it. We must talk about something, and it is not all of us who can find a rational topic of conversation, or discuss it when found. ~ Ch. 8

You kiddin'? I know I'm ugly...last year at Halloween when I opened the door, kids gave me candy. Some little kid tried to pull my face off. When I drove down the street, I stuck my head out the window and got a ticket for mooning.

When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shun the being seen to do it, even though the world should make a wrong supposition about it; for, if you don't act right, shun the action itself; but, if you do, why are you afraid of those who censure you wrongly? (35)

'Whom are you?' he said, for he had been to night school.

Shaw: Am reserving two seats for my show. Come bring a friend - if you have one.