"The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever. Even if people employ actual violence, they are not to be violent in turn. That would be to fall to the same low level. After all, even in prison, a man can be quite free. His soul can be free. His personality can be untroubled. He can be at peace. And, above all things, they are not to interfere with other people or judge them in any way. Personality is a very mysterious thing. A man cannot always be estimated by what he does. He may keep the law, and yet be worthless. He may break the law, and yet be fine. He may be bad, without ever doing anything bad. He may commit a sin against society, and yet realise through that sin his true perfection."

"Honesta fama melior pecunia est."

"Fame's a weed, but repute is a slow-growing oak, and all we can do during our lifetimes is hop around like squirrels and plant acorns."

"I see my reputation is at stake: My fame is shewdly gor'd."

"Thy death-bed is no lesser than thy land Wherein thou liest in reputation sick."

"The purest treasure mortal times afford Is spotless reputation; that away, Men are but gilded loam or painted clay."

"Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed."

"Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial."

"Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving."

"I have offended reputation, A most unnoble swerving."

"The art of being able to make a good use of moderate abilities wins esteem and often confers more reputation than real merit."

"In various talk th' instructive hours they past, Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last; One speaks the glory of the British queen, And one describes a charming Indian screen; A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; At every word a reputation dies."

"In those days, when people were not wise like you young people, they were content to listen to a tree or a rock in simple openness, just as long as it spoke the truth, but to you, perhaps, it makes a difference who is speaking and where he comes from."

"Are you not ashamed that you give your attention to acquiring as much money as possible, and similarly with reputation and honor, and give no attention or thought to truth and understanding and the perfection of your soul?"

"Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us."

"And I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think, And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak."

"Would you be esteemed? live with persons that are estimable."

"The love of esteem is the life and soul of society; it unites us to one another : I want your approbation, you stand in need of mine. By forsaking the converse of men, we forsake the virtues necessary for society; for when one is alone, one is apt to grow negligent; the world forces you to have a guard over yourself."

"The blaze of a reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket."

"The tree is known by his fruit."

"A man may be reputed an able man this year, and yet be a beggar the next: it is a misfortune that happens to many men, and his former reputation will signify nothing."

"How many people live on the reputation of the reputation they might have made!"

"I do not myself believe much in the comforting theory that posterity is always in the right, and that the reputation neglected to-day will necessarily be established at the end of some vista of to-morrows; it is true that in the long run—the very long run, the run of many centuries—a general tribute is accorded to those worthy reputations which have survived to get it; but we can never know how many have literally perished of neglect."

"They please, are pleased, they give to get esteem, Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem."

"A lost good name is ne'er retriev'd."

"Get yourself the reputation for being an early riser, and you can sleep until four o'clock in the afternoon. People will still say, "There he goes, the early riser.""

"And reputation bleeds in ev'ry word."

"I hold it as certain, that no man was ever written out of reputation but by himself."

"Ought I not to have been more careful to win the good opinion of others, more determined to conquer their hostility or indifference? It would have been a joy to me to be smiled upon, loved, encouraged, welcomed, and to obtain what I was so ready to give, kindness and goodwill. But to hunt down consideration and reputation—to force the esteem of others—seemed to me an effort unworthy of myself, almost a degradation."

"Men are depraved and perverted by society."

"The principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society."

"The nature of a society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flow—by the tilt of the social landscape."

"The truth is that a vast restructuring of our society is needed if remedies are to become available to the average person. Without that restructuring the good will that holds society together will be slowly dissipated. It is that sense of futility which permeates the present series of protests and dissents. Where there is a persistent sense of futility, there is violence; and that is where we are today."

"We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an official, a society where enterprise gains no reward and thrift no privileges."

"[Society] is a partnership in all science, a partnership in all art, a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born."

"Society must be studied in the individual and the individual in society."

"Now, the vicissitudes that afflict the individual have their source in society. It is this situation that has given currency to the phrase "social forces". Personal relations have given way to impersonal ones. The Great Society has arrived and the task of our generation is to bring it under control. The study of how it is to be done is the function of politics."

"Society became my glittering bride, And airy hopes my children."

"There is One great society alone on earth: The noble Living and the noble Dead."

"Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all The dreary intercourse of daily life."

"At present there is no distinction among the upper ten thousand of the city."

"Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself."

"I suppose Society is wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is simply a tragedy."

"In the past, women were supposed to be pretty and men successful. Nowadays, everyone has to be able to do everything, and the pressure to satisfy that goal, along with the insecurity it brings, has doubled. Expectations rise while birth rates fall. Women have become a more horrific version of men, readily expressing their displeasure over lack of sexual compliance. Men have become insecure and have fled to the Internet. Both are approaching a state of narcissistic lunacy, and solidarity is something that seems attainable only among friends."

"Society therefore is as ancient as the world."

"Wherever a man goes, men will pursue him and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate oddfellow society."

"They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations."

"As long as men are men, a poor society cannot be too poor to find a right order of life, nor a rich society too rich to have need to seek it."

"It is impossible, in our condition of Society, not to be sometimes a Snob."

"Society can imprison one's happiness"