As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society.
quote by Henry David Thoreau
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
There is no reason to accept the doctrines crafted to sustain power and privilege, or to believe that we are constrained by mysterious and unknown social laws. These are simply decisions made within institutions that are subject to human will and that must face the test of legitimacy. And if they do not meet the test, they can be replaced by other institutions that are more free and more just, as has happened often in the past.
quote by Noam Chomsky
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I still like being in North of England and I keep a place there. But there are a lot of things about the Continent that are to be preferred. The social institutions work better, women have a better position in society and the food is another thing.
quote by Andrew Eldritch
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not exist and develop without the cumulative social efforts of countless generations. Thus the individual, his freedom and reason, are the products of society, and not vice versa: society is not the product of individuals comprising it; and the higher, the more fully the individual is developed, the greater his freedom — and the more he is the product of society, the more does he receive from society and the greater his debt to it.
quote by Mikhail Bakunin
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Personally, I'm in favor of democracy, which means that the central institutions of society have to be under popular control. Now, under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be establishedat every level--there's little bargaining, a little give and take,but the line of authority is perfectly straightforward. Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I'm opposed to economic fascism. I think that until the major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy.
quote by Noam Chomsky
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Whitney wanted to eradicate the idea that in the case of a language we are dealing with a natural faculty; in fact, social institutions stand opposed to natural institutions.
quote by Ferdinand de Saussure
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It is the function of science to discover the existence of a general reign of order in nature and to find the causes governing this order. And this refers in equal measure to the relations of man - social and political - and to the entire universe as a whole.
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev in Mendeleev on the Periodic Law: Selected Writings, 1869 - 1905
Submitted by Catalin Popescu
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In this context, social consensus, and institutions that embody this consensus, must be made effective in order for democratization not to be abused as a provisional instrument to establish an anti-democratic regime.
quote by Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Golden Age of the human race is not behind us; it lies before us, in the perfection of the social order.
Henri de Saint-Simon in On the reorganisation of European society (1814), translated by Keith Taylor
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Dimension Merge
For us the past has gone and the present moves on
into the yesterday of a future’s present time.
Despite living in the future’s past this will not last,
present and future will very soon combine.
Future or dimension, to some a misapprehension,
but they are one in the same.
If there’s more than one, they will follow on
to leave one, with it’s present name.
On merging we’ll realise we’ve no future to recognise,
and the past and present is all we’ll know.
The past will still be renewed, with each day used,
but the future will mean only tomorrow.
poem by Orlando Belo
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Monastery, Montserrat
Christians’ belief will outlive
these particular monastic bricks,
which will, in their present
configuration, outlast us—visitors
today in bright sun. A child
accidentally kicks a soccer-ball
over the parapet. We all move
to the wall, peer over. Rocks above
the monastery will outlast
Christians’ belief in its present
configuration, will persist past
words like rock and kick that
visitors today, tomorrow, speak.
Can belief make the face of
a simple wooden statue last
forever? The face of the Black
Madonna shines, seems
to gaze past the parapet
of Time. Geology promises
that wind will outlive rocks
above. Wind roaming past
bluffs above Montserrat is
holier than now, is eternal
liturgy of displacement, is
inspired.
poem by Hans Ostrom
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A glorious past
Past is always glorious
by that only you have become known or famous
that must remain on or continuous
the reason may be many or various
you can't go by the past
though it might have ended fast
the present may still be eluded
if past is not at all included
you love the present and think of future
the thing which is not there for sure
Think of the past with little from present
you won't feel future too absent
don't read much about anything
you will have to prove for everything
you can't trust the present trend
you may plan accordingly with some mends
poem by Hasmukh Amathalal
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Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not exist and develop without the cumulative social efforts of countless generations.
quote by Mikhail Bakunin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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He who negates present society, and seeks social conditions based on the sharing of property, is a revolutionary whether he calls himself an anarchist or a communist.
quote by Johann Most
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Past, Present, Future
i lived in the past for so long
that the present was always unknown.
now i always look ahead at all the possibilities
and there is so much, that i now see.
a shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel
and my thoughts being poured through a funnel.
the past is the past, and that's where it will stay
and in the present, we have to find a better way.
for the present will soon be our past
and if we don't do something, it will not last.
we must always look to the future
for it is only twenty four hours away
then it will be our past
and we have so much to do and say.
when i look at life, i truely have to laugh
today is our future and tomorrow it'll be our past.
now that i have you confused as to what i am
trying to say.
i guess i will try' to put it a better way'.
we all tend to procrastinate
always leaving it for tomorrow.
but! what if you don't see tomorrow.
and today you did'nt accomplish that task
how will you be remembered
if the present you left for last.
when we leave this material world
and our souls soar up in the sky
we will still have our memories
and that we can rely.
for when we get up there(if we do)
your soul will have carried all that you did
in this life
and the memories of friends, family
husband, or wife.
now when you look down on all that you had did
and asking yourself the question.
did i use my time, the way it was
meant to be?
or did i procrastinate, that others now speak of me?
we all have to work in order to survive.
but we must stop on occasion to smell the flowers.
and to enjoy all that we was given
otherwise how can you call this living.
(my thoughts: the words and stories were given to me.
so that i could write them down, for al the world to see.)
this is my philosophy.
poem by Louis Rams
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K... I Lost
I lost... She lost... We lost and our heart lost.
Oh’ Society at your social and traditional cost.
Now our face will be considered as a culprit in love.
A strain is on our character with a defame shove.
How the rain will happen at my territory...
How a bud will blossom at a contrary...
My love ruined the society, people made that prove
Blaming us become their fashion and groove
at every lane and street we became the hated most.
I lost... She lost... We lost and our heart lost.
Oh’ Society at your social and traditional cost.
All are mortal; we can never be immortal
but... Our love will become for lovers’ portal
In future our successor will follow my shadow path
now may not the time for the spring... but it will be a heath
Defame has became our own fatal
we are blamed and going to die, but love is immortal
Love is spontaneous and the earth is its host
I lost... She lost... We lost and our heart lost.
Oh’ Society at your social and traditional cost.
I saw her love and felt me in her eye.
She is there always for me; Where is the “but & why”?
You are mistreating us and blaming us today
for you, our lives, we are going to pay.
We expressed our feeling with no shy.
Nothing is there what I have to post.
I lost... She lost... We lost and our heart lost.
Oh’ Society at your social and traditional cost.
poem by Devraj Harikrishna
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Emergency Exit
I must be present now
before I can have a past;
I must be present now
to create a future then.
If I still my present mind
and exchange present thoughts
for nothing at all,
I have escaped past and future
and achieved a timeless peace
with no yesterday, no tomorrow.
I am
before
Abraham was.
poem by Brian Taylor
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Dream - Refugee-free Civil Society
Refugee is some one who was
REFUsed the right to reside further
In the land to which he belongs
Got Evicted and guardedly placed
Elsewhere
When a new system of governance
Comes in replacing an existing one
This issue arises
War and one of its attendant social issues
Is managing refugees
A civilized society
Cannot claim it to be so
If it has in its midst
A number of refugees
And an exclusive camp where refugees stay
It is scar on the entire human race
Which, at present, is the highly civilized
And is always on the path of development
With so many facilities
Adding up each second that passes
The condition of a refugee
Is far beyond the description
Of being pathetic
They do not have a place to stay
Leave alone the house
And the homely environment
Some of them had a great living
Before getting evicted
Leaving back in their home land
Properties much beyond the reach of many
In the land where they are “settled”
For no fault of theirs
But simply because of the
Clash of two warring segments
Who constitute only a miniscule
Of the entire people in trouble
No future in sight
No present in hand
Only a painful past
Haunting them all through
It is hard to believe
That some camps run for decades
Do they not deserve
The normal living others
Both in their ex-land and in their entry-land
Are enjoying
It is a shame
On the organized living
And no development means any thing
To the human race
As long we have a refugee
In our midst
They need emotional, economical
And the other social support
If you really feel
They are also human beings
It is a wonder
That in natural systems
There is no living thing
Which suffers this refugee stamp
Will there be a day
When we will have a refugee-free
Civil Society
poem by Bashyam Narayanan
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Keeping our eyes on journey's end is what we need - the place where we see at last the world that is greater than the world, the new creation that cannot be contained in present thought or social order or piety.
quote by Rowan D. Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Present
Bury the Past
Forget the Future
Think about the Present
Be alert and cautious in the present
Do not regret about the past
Or worry about the future
Past is gone
Future is unknown
Present is what you have today
So utilise it to the fullest extent
Its your life's biggest asset
That will fetch you great dividends
Realize that this is a gift given to you by God
That's why it is called as "PRESENT"
poem by Kavita Iyer
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Lifes a Journey
As I sit and look back at my life and the things I did, whether they were good or bad...I am here...
The past is my life long journey of truely finding my self.
My present is my life journey to correct my past mistakes and improve my present.
My Future is what I make of my present.
So I choose wisely because I only have one past, present and future.....
poem by Yahaira Perez
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