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Respectability Quotes

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Respectability Quotes

“The Miss America contest isthe most perfectly rendered theater in our culture, for it so perfectly captures what we yearn for: a low-class ritual, a polished restatement of vulgarity, that wants to open the door to high-class respectability by way of plain middle-class anxiety and ambition.”

WayWantAmericaCultureClassDoorsMiddleMissingAnxietyAmbitionLowsTheaterEntertainmentMiddle ClassRitualCaptureContestsPolishedVulgarityRespectabilityMiss AmericaHigh Class
Author:Gerald Early
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“I care not for the theoretical symmetry and impregnable logic of your moral code, I care not for the hoary respectability and traditional mysticisms of your theological institutions, I care not for the beauty and solemnity of your rituals and religious ceremonies, I care not even for the reasonableness and unimpeachable fairness of your social ethics,--if it does not turn out better, nobler, truer, men and women,--if it does not add to the world's stock of valuable souls,--if it does not give us a sounder, healthier, more reliable product from this great factory of men--I will have none of it.”

IfsMenWorldGivingDoeSoulCareReligionTurnsSocialReligiousMoralProductsMoralityEthicsMen And WomenLogicInstitutionsAddValuableTraditionalCodeMysticismRitualFactoriesFairnessI CareCeremonyTheoreticalTheologicalSymmetryRespectabilityMoral CodeSolemnityReasonablenessSounder
Book:The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper: Including A Voice from the South and Other Important Essays, Papers, and Letters
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“One is conscious of no brave and noble earnestness in it, of no generalized passion for intellectual and spiritual adventure, of no organized determination to think things out. What is there is a highly self-conscious and insipid correctness, a bloodless respectability submergence of matter in manner--in brief, what is there is the feeble, uninspiring quality of German painting and English music.”

ThinkingSelfMatterSpiritualPassionLiteratureQualityPaintingAdventureIntellectualConsciousDeterminationBraveNobleOrganizedSelf ConsciousCorrectnessRespectabilityAmerican LiteratureEarnestnessInsipidUninspiringEnglish Music
Book:H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series
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“We are so placid that the smallest tremor of objection to anything at all is taken as a full-scale revolution. Should any soul speak up in favor of the obvious, it is taken as a symptom of the influence of the left, the right, the pink, the black, the dangerous. An idea for its own sake - especially an obvious idea - has no respectability.”

ShouldIdeasSoulLeftSpeakBlackTakenInfluenceDangerousRevolutionSakeObviousFavorsScalesSmallestSymptomsObjectionsRespectabilityPlacid
Book:Art & ardor: essays
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“All fear of 'offensive' speech is bourgeois and reactionary. Historically, profane or bawdy language was common in both the upper and the lower classes, who lived together in rural areas amid the untidy facts of nature. Notions of propriety and decorum come to the fore in urbanized periods ruled by an expanding middle class, which is obsessed with cleanliness, respectability, and conformism.”

FactsTogetherLanguageCommonClassMiddleInternetPeriodsSpeechAreasNotionObsessedMiddle ClassFree SpeechOffensiveExpandingBourgeoisCleanlinessReactionariesProprietyProfaneRespectabilityDecorumLower ClassRural Areas
Author:Camille Paglia
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“I think the fear of being seen as childish or crazy severely limits our enjoyment of the world around us, thus inducing a state of boredom that in turn gives rise to much of the stupidity and meanness that oftem seem to epitomize the human condtion. In fact, these ills merely signify that the dues we pay for adult respectability are far too high, and bring some 'benefits' of questionable value.”

ThinkingWorldGivingHumansStatesFactsSeemsValuesTurnsFearPayCrazyLimitsBenefitsAdultsStupidityDuesEnjoymentBoredomMeannessQuestionableRespectability
Author:D. Patrick Miller
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“Intellectual respectability required mental health, and it was becoming evident to me by then that "mental health" consisted of trusting everyone about everything as much as possible - and, for good measure, poking fun at anyone who didn't. Especially to be trusted were the mass media, whose owners and personnel were not to be regarded as minions of the Establishment because, as they themselves used to attest with confidence, there was no Establishment in the United States of America. Only foreigners and paranoids believed (otherwise).”

StatesAmericaUsedFunUnitedUnited StatesMediaBecomingMassIntellectualMental HealthOwnersEstablishmentTrustedUnited States Of AmericaEvidentForeignersMass MediaRespectabilityPersonnelMinionsPoking Fun
Author:Kerry Thornley
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“But one thing is certain: the commandments have not changed. Let there be no mistake about that. Right is still right. Wrong is still wrong, no matter how cleverly cloaked in respectability or political correctness. We believe in chastity before marriage and fidelity ever after. That standard is an absolute standard of truth. It is neither subject to public opinion polls nor dependent upon situation or circumstance. There is no need to debate it or other gospel standards.”

NeedsBelieveStillsMatterPoliticalCertainMistakeSituationOpinionOne ThingSubjectsChangedCircumstancesStandardsAbsolutesDebateDependentCommandmentsPublic OpinionPollsFidelityPolitical CorrectnessChastityEver AfterCorrectnessRespectabilityAbsolutismOpinion PollsBefore Marriage
Author:M. Russell Ballard
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“A struggle for liberty is in itself respectable and glorious. . . . When conducted with magnanimity, justice and humanity, it ought to command the admiration of every friend to human nature. But if sullied by crimes and extravagancies, it loses its respectability.”

IfsHumansHumanityLosesJusticeLibertyStruggleHuman NatureCrimeOughtCommandGloriousAdmirationRespectableRespectabilityMagnanimity
Book:Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder
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“So if you are seeking something else in the name of creativity, then drop the idea of being creative. At least consciously, deliberately, do whatsoever you want to do. Never hide behind masks. If you really want to be creative, then there is no question of money, success, prestige, respectability. Then you enjoy your activity; then each act has an intrinsic value. You dance because you like dancing; you dance because you delight in it.”

IfsWantIdeasValuesNamesEnjoyBehindsCreativityCreativeActivityDancingDelightSeekingMaskBe CreativePrestigeRespectabilityIntrinsic Value
Author:Rajneesh
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“To achieve respectability, to be admitted to the debate, they must accept without question or inquiry the fundamental doctrine that the state is benevolent, governed by the loftiest intentions, adopting a defensive stance, not an actor in world affairs but only reacting to the crimes of others...If even the harshest of critics tacitly adopt these premises, then the ordinary person may ask, who am I to disagree?”

IfsWorldMayPersonsStatesActorsAsksAcceptingAchieveCrimeOrdinaryFundamentalsIntentionCriticsAffairDebateDoctrineDisagreeInquiryPremisesStanceReactingBenevolentAdoptingRespectabilityOrdinary PersonWorld Affairs
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Whenever a man is known to seek promotion by intrigue, by temporizing, or by resorting to the haunts of vulgarity and vice for support, it may be inferred, with moral certainty, that he is not a man of real respectability, nor is he entitled to public confidence.”

MenMayRealKnownMoralSupportVicesCertaintyEntitledIntriguePromotionVulgarityRespectability
Book:Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education: To which is Subjoined a Brief History of the United States
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“You have to understand, in the current academic climate, Intelligent Design is like leprosy or heresy in times past. To be tagged as an ID supporter is to become an academic pariah, and this holds even at so-called Christian institutions that place a premium on respectability at the expense of truth and the offense of the Gospel.”

ChristianPastDesignIntelligentInstitutionsClimateCurrentsExpensesAcademicOffenseSupporterHeresyRespectabilityPremiumIntelligent DesignTimes PastPariahsLeprosyTagged
Author:William A. Dembski
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“I was wowed by Margo Jefferson's memoir, Negroland, which is about growing up black and privileged in Chicago in the fifties and sixties. It was a window into an alien world. Obviously, I'm not black, but what was really alien to me was her family's focus on respectability. I was never taught when to wear white gloves, what length skirt is appropriate.”

WorldBlackWhiteGrowing UpFocusGrowingTaughtWindowMemoirAliensAppropriateLengthChicagoSixtyPrivilegedSkirtsGlovesRespectability
Author:Justine Larbalestier
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“There is no going back to a time when most women will feel compelled to enter or stay in a bad marriage just for economic security or social respectability. So today, the best way to get women once more interested in getting married and having children is for men to accept women's new insistence on equality. This is, I think, why educated women in America, are now more pro - marriage and more disapproving of divorce than other groups of women who have less experience with egalitarian partners or less clout in getting their needs met in relationships.”

ThinkingMenChildrenTodayAcceptingEconomicSecurityMarriedDivorceEducatedGetting MarriedHaving ChildrenInsistenceRespectabilityBad Marriage
Author:Stephanie Coontz
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“You and I, we must carry on, Gemma. I cannot afford the luxury of love. I must marry well. And now I must look after you. It is my duty." "If you wish to suffer, you do so of your own free will, not on my behalf. Or Father's or Grandmama's or anyone's. You are a fine physician, Thomas. Why is that not enough?" "Because it isn't," he says with a rare candor. "Only this and the hope of nothing more? A quiet respectability with no true greatness or heroism in it, with only my reputation to recommend me. So you see, Gemma, you are not the only one who cannot rule her own life.”

IfsWellsLooksEnoughSufferingFatherWishGreatnessDutyFineQuietReputationLuxuryFree WillHeroismPhysiciansBehalfCandorRespectabilityTrue Greatness
Author:Libba Bray
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“Advice,' Doña Vorchenza chuckled. 'Advice. The years play a sort of alchemical trick, transmuting one's mutterings to a state of respectability. Give advice at forty and you're a nag. Give it at seventy and you're a sage.”

GivingYearsStatesPlayAdviceExperienceTricksFortyLife ExperienceSageSeventiesRespectabilityMuttering
Book:The Gentleman Bastard Series 3-Book Bundle: The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves
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“Society, civilized society at least, is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating. It feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals, and, in its opinion, the highest respectability is of much less value than the possession of a good chef.”

FeelsBelieveValuesMoralOpinionRichReadyHighestImportancePossessionMannersFascinatingCivilizedChefRespectabilityCivilized Society
Book:The Picture of Dorian Gray and Three Stories
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“The Great Man... is colder, harder, less hesitating, and without fear of 'opinion'; he lacks the virtues that accompany respect and 'respectability,' and altogether everything that is the 'virtue of the herd.' If he cannot lead, he goes alone... He knows he is incommunicable: he finds it tasteless to be familiar... When not speaking to himself, he wears a mask. There is a solitude within him that is inaccessible to praise or blame.”

IfsKnowsMenOpinionVirtueSolitudeHarderPraiseBlameFamiliarGreat MenMaskHerdsAccompanyRespectabilityInaccessible
Book:Friedrich Nietzsche: 100 Quotes on Strength, Power, and Honor
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