Some quotes about society are more optimistic than others, but they all teach us important lessons. They make us question our beliefs and behaviors. Are they our own or have they been imposed on us?
You see, being a part of society automatically makes us subjects to social conditioning, which prevents us from thinking critically and outside the box. Thus, most ideas and perceptions we have are, in fact, not our own. Of course, this is not to say that all the beliefs imposed by society are bad ones.
However, the problem is that the education system and mass media are doing their best to kill every seed of critical thought in our minds and turn us into mindless gears of the system.
From a very young age, we adopt certain behaviors and thought patterns because we learn that this is the right way to live and think. During adolescence, we embrace the herd mentality in all its fullness. It makes sense why – it’s the age when you want to fit in so badly.
We grow up wanting to live and look like celebrities we see on TV and chasing shallow ideals they represent. As a result, we become the perfect members of the consumer society, ready to buy what we are told we need and to obey the rules without questioning them.
It’s only when you start to question yourself and eventually awaken from the consumer mindset that you realize how much time you’ve wasted on nonsense. Sadly, most people never awaken. They live their lives for someone else, striving to fulfill their parents’, teachers’, or spouses’ expectations.
In essence, they fulfill society’s expectations. This is what ‘normal people‘ do.
The below quotes about society and people talk about social conditioning, the concept of freedom, and the fallacies of the education system:
I don’t like ass kissers, flag wavers or team players. I like people who buck the system. Individualists. I often warn people:
“Somewhere along the way, someone is going to tell you, ‘There is no “I” in team.’ What you should tell them is, ‘Maybe not. But there is an “I” in independence, individuality and integrity.’”-George Carlin
I see men assassinated around me every day. I walk through rooms of the dead, streets of the dead, cities of the dead; men without eyes, men without voices; men with manufactured feelings and standard reactions; men with newspaper brains, television souls, and high school ideas.
-Charles Bukowski
The masses have never thirsted after truth. They demand illusions.
-Sigmund Freud
We forfeit three-quarters of ourselves in order to be like other people.
-Arthur Schopenhauer
Asocial behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists.
-Nikola Tesla
Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.
-U.G. Krishnamurti
Governments don’t want an intelligent population because people who can think critically can’t be ruled. They want a public just smart enough to pay taxes and dumb enough to keep voting.
-George Carlin
We live in a generation of emotionally weak people. Everything has to be watered down because it’s offensive, including the truth.
-Unknown
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
-Søren Kierkegaard
Rebellion is not what most people think it is. Rebellion is turning off the TV and thinking for yourself.
-Unknown
Being considered crazy by those who are still victims of cultural conditioning is a compliment.
-Jason Hairston
Society: Be yourself
Society: No, not like that.
-Unknown
Society judges people by their successes. I get attracted by their dedication, simplicity, and humility.
-Debasish Mridha
Ninety-five percent of people who walk the earth are simply inert. One percent are saints, and one percent are assholes. The other three percent are people who do what they say they can do.
-Stephen King
As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself…great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humanity.
-Nelson Mandela
The problem is not people being uneducated. The problem is that they are educated just enough to believe what they have been taught and not educated enough to question what they have been taught.
-Unknown
The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.
-Maximilien Robespierre
Sinners judging sinners for sinning differently.
-Sui Ishida
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
–William James
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
-Oscar Wilde
Want to Break Free from Social Conditioning? Learn to Think for Yourself
These quotes about society show that there is no easy way to set yourself free from all those imposed beliefs and thought patterns. After all, we adopt these things from our early years and they settle very deeply in our minds.
True, profound freedom has very little to do with what we are made to believe it is. It is not about superficial attributes like what clothes you choose to wear. Genuine freedom starts with your thoughts and your ability to critically assess information and draw your own conclusions.
To achieve it, practice critical thinking. Don’t take at face value anything you hear, see, and read. Question everything and remember that there is no absolute truth out there. Learn to see both sides of a situation.
The only thing that is certain is that any type of society never was and will never be perfect simply because we human beings are not perfect. Times change, regimes vary, but the essence remains the same. The system will always want blindly obedient citizens who lack critical thought. But we still have a choice when it comes to the information we are feeding our minds with.
While it’s still possible, be mindful of the information you consume and use any opportunity to educate yourself. Read quality literature, watch thought-provoking documentaries, expand your mind, and widen your horizons in any way you can. It’s the only way to escape society’s lies and the traps of social conditioning.
Did the above quotes about society give you some food for thought? Please share your opinions with us.
What’s the “RIGHT” thing to do? Unsure? Go into the restroom and ask the person in the mirror, honestly, sincerely, and with empathy, if the “answer” you currently believe, is correct, is indeed, the “RIGHT” thing to do, believe, and adopt as a personal belief/value. That person knows the “REAL YOU”.
Thank you. A good selection. Broad enough to trigger reflections on one’s own inertia or rebellion.
Awesome .
People are created to live together so there should a system to organize society and life
I’ve talked to so many people about critical thinking and almost all say ‘That’s me’, when two minutes with them tells you they are not. I’ve always been an introvert and thinker, but not a natural critical one. My greatest mentor has been my daughter. Beginning her teens, I not only allowed her, but prompted her to question me on anything. Her conversations taught me to take the next step. She became highly educated, and now, it seems as though I’m the teen with questions.
I am grateful I found this website. I really wanted something which makes me think.
A really good, succinct article even without the excellent selection of quotations. I appreciate writing that expresses clearly and without waffle, truths that many are aware off, but haven’t managed to express as well.
(I stumbled on this page when searching for who penned one of the quotes listed … will now have to look through the site for more such articles.)
Many thanks.