society
“Acquaintance, n. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous”
“Abnormal, adj. Not conforming to standards in matters of thought and conduct. To be independent is to be abnormal, to be abnormal is to be detested. Wherefore the lexicographer adviseth a striving toward a straiter resemblance to the Average Man than he hath to himself. Whoso attaineth thereto shall have peace, the prospect of death, and the hope of Hell.”
“The selfish smiling fool. & the sullen frowning fool, shall be both thought wise. that they may be a rod.”
“Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”
“Perhaps I did not succumb to ideology because I have never seen myself as a spokesman. I am a witness.”
“To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”
“The confusion is not my invention. We cannot listen to a conversation for five minutes without being acutely aware of the confusion.”
“Disbelief is catching. It rubs off on people.”
“Cabbage, n. A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man’s head.”
“Pedigree, n. The known part of the route from an arboreal ancestor with a spring at the further end.”
“Poker, n. A game said to be played with cards for some purpose to this lexicographer unknown.”
“Plunder, v. To take the property of another without observing the decent and customary reticences of theft.”
“Rank, n. Relative elevation in the scale of human worth.”
“Rabble, n. In a republic, those who exercise a supreme authority tempered by fraudulent elections.”
“Quotient, n. A number showing how many times a sum of money belonging to one person is contained in the pocket of another.”
“Quorum, n. A sufficient number of members of a deliberative body to have their own way and their own way of having it.”
“Polygamy, n. A house of atonement, or expiatory chapel, fitted with several stoves.”
“Politician, n. An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of organized society is reared.”
“Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy.”
“Police, n. An armed force for protection and participation.”