“Justice must always question itself, just as society can exist only by means of the work it does on itself and on its institutions.” MeanDoeJusticeInstitutionsWorking It Author:Michel Foucault
“That man is formed for social life is an observation which, upon our first inquiry, presents itself immediately to our view, and our reason approves that wise and generous principle which actuated the first founders of civil government, an institution which hat its origin in the weakness of individuals, and hath for its end the strength and security of all; and so long as the means of effecting this important end are thoroughly known and religiously attended to government is one of the richest blessings to mankind, and ought to be held in the highest veneration” MenFirstsMeanLongImportantEndsReasonGovernmentLife IsIndividualSocialViewsKnownPrinciplesWiseMankindSecurityOughtBlessingHighestWeaknessInstitutionsObservationGenerousHatsPatrioticFoundersInquirySocial LifeVeneration Author:Joseph Warren
“Through the influence of real art, aided by science, guided by religion... peaceful co-operation of man is now obtained by external means - by law courts, police, charitable institutions, factory inspections... It should be obtained by man's free and joyous activity.” MenShouldMeanArtRealLawInfluenceActivityAuthorityPoliceInstitutionsCourtPeacefulOperationsFactoriesJoyousCharitableInspectionLaw Courts Author:Leo Tolstoy
“We shall always be a small minority in the world, but, when a small nation accomplishes something with its limited means, what it achieves has an immense and exceptional value, like the widow's mite. It is a deliberate and discerning love of a nation that appeals to me, not the indiscriminate love that assumes everything to be right because it bears a national label. Love of one's own nation should not entail non-love of other nations. Institutions by themselves are not enough.” WorldShouldMeanEnoughValuesNationsAchieveBearsInstitutionsAssumingAccomplishLabelsAppealsMinoritiesPatriotismImmenseExceptionalDeliberateWidowsDiscerningSmall Nations Author:Tomas Garrigue Masaryk
“In the 20th century, the position of the monarch as head of the Church of England was given a meaning which it never had before. You took the fact that the monarch was head of the Church of England to mean that the British monarchy was itself a religious or moral institution and the monarchy became a symbol of national public morality.” MeanFactsGivenChurchReligiousMoralCenturyPositionMoralityEnglandInstitutionsBritishSymbols20th CenturyMonarchyMonarchsChurch Of EnglandBritish Monarchy Author:David Starkey
“I regard the Masonic institution as one of the means ordained by the Supreme Architect to enable mankind to work out the problem of destiny; to fight against, and overcome, the weaknesses and imperfections of his nature, and at last to attain to that true life of which death is the herald and the grave the portal.” MeanProblemLastsFightingDestinyMankindWeaknessOvercomingRegardInstitutionsWork OutSupremeGravesImperfectionArchitectTrue LifePortalMasonic Author:Theodore Roosevelt
“Anarchists generally make use if the word "State" to mean all the collection of institutions, political, legislative, judicial, military, financial, etc., by means of which management of their own affairs, the guidance of their personal conduct, and the care of ensuring their own safety are taken from the people and confided to certain individuals, and these, whether by usurpation or delegation, are invested with the right to make laws over and for all, and to constrain the public to respect them, making use of the collective force of the community to this end.” PeopleIfsMeanEndsStatesUseCareLawPoliticalCertainIndividualForceCommunityTakenMilitaryManagementSafetyInstitutionsAffairFinancialGuidanceCollectionsEtcCollectivesAnarchismAnarchistJudicialConstrainDelegationUsurpation Author:Errico Malatesta
“The Fascist State lays claim to rule in the economic field no less than in others; it makes its action felt throughout the length and breadth of the country by means of its corporate, social, and educational institutions, and all the political, economic, and spiritual forces of the nation, organised in their respective associations, circulate within the State.” MeanCountryStatesActionSpiritualPoliticalReligionPoliticsForceNationsSocialFeltEducationEconomicFieldsEconomicsClaimsInstitutionsLaysEducationalCorporateLengthFascismAssociationFascistsBreadthOrganisedEducational Institutions Author:Benito Mussolini
“Religions are institutions that push you up the mountain and then they have their fantasies about the spirit. I mean they try to make God like the human psyche and it's wrong. I mean it's a projection of the mind, and you can use it to get a start and then you must leave it behind.” TryingMindHumansMeanUseSpiritBehindsFantasyMountainInstitutionsProjectionHuman Psyche Author:Ram Dass
“To think of education as a means of preserving institutions however excellent, is to have a superficial notion of its end and purpose, which is to mould and fashion men who are more than institutions, who create, outgrow, and re-create them.” ThinkingMenMeanEndsPurposeFashionInstitutionsNotionExcellentSuperficialMould Book:Aphorisms and Reflections: Conduct, Culture and Religion Source: Aphorisms and Reflections: Conduct, Culture and Religion
“It happens from time to time in every complex and active society, that certain persons feel the complexity and insistence as a tangle, and seek freedom in retirement, as Thoreau sought at Walden Pond. They do not, however, in this manner escape from the social institutions of their time, nor do they really mean to do so; what they gain, if they are successful, is a saner relation to them.” IfsFeelsMeanPersonsHappensCertainSocialSuccessfulGainsRelationInstitutionsComplexesActiveComplexityRetirementReally MeanPondsInsistenceSocial InstitutionsWalden Pond Book:Human Nature and the Social Order Source: Human Nature and the Social Order
“The ultimate aim of politics is not politics, but the activities which can be practised within the political framework of the State. Therefore an effective statement of these activities - e.g. science, art, religion - is in itself a declaration of ultimate aims around which the political means will crystallise... a society with no values outside of politics is a machine carrying its human cargo, with no purpose in its institutions reflecting their care, eternal aspirations, loneliness, need for love.” NeedsHumansMeanArtStatesCarePoliticalPurposeValuesLonelinessActivityEternalMachinesUltimateAimInstitutionsStatementsAspirationDeclarationFrameworkReflectingCargo Author:Stephen Spender