Social Development Quotes

“They had no previous connection whatever with Connemara; but they saw connections where others who should have seen them simply looked the other way.”
― Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea

“There is no growth without discomfort.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans

“Nations are not handed perfect, they are perfected by hand.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion

“Progress and partisanism don't go together.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans

“Unlike most models of interpersonal networks, the one presented here is not meant primarily for application to small, face-to-face groups or to groups in confined institutional or organizational settings. Rather, it is meant for linkage of such small-scale levels with one another and with larger, more amorphous ones. This is why emphasis here has been placed more on weak ties than on strong. Weak ties are more likely to link members of different small groups than are strong ones, which tend to be concentrated within particular groups.
[...]
The major implication intended by this paper is that the personal experience of individuals is closely bound up with larger-scale aspects of social structure, well beyond the purview or control of particular individuals.
Linkage of micro and macro levels is thus no luxury but of central importance to the development of sociological theory. Such linkage generates paradoxes: weak ties, often denounced as generative of alienation, are here seen as indispensable to individuals' opportunities and to their integration into communities; strong ties, breeding local cohesion, lead to overall fragmentation. Paradoxes are a welcome antidote to theories which explain everything all too neatly.”
― Mark Granovetter, The Strength of Weak Ties

“It is nothing short of tragedy if virtues are nowhere to be found except on walls.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence

“There is no such thing as pop culture, you can either have populism or culture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence

“We don't build civilization by erecting one sky-scraper after another. We build civilization by wiping out one discrimination after another.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Nuts and bolts do not constitute advancement,
Heart and help constitute true advancement.
Freezers are good for preserving dead meat,
To preserve life we need a warm environment.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Growth is only growth when we grow together,”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Need Teachers Not Cops (The Sonnet)

The world needs less cops and more teachers,
While cops enforce law, teachers instill accountability.
Thus law enforcement only produces an illusion of order,
It's the teachers who can create a crime-free society.
If students are the future, teachers are future maker,
So be civilized and focus on lifting teachers and students.
Government of baboons invests in police 'n defense contracts,
While a truly civilized government invests in education.
Arm the teachers with books and students with sustenance,
Then watch them accomplish the impossible future,
A future of true lasting order, reform and harmony,
Which a billion police cannot achieve in a billion years.
Society that empowers teachers empowers peace.
Society that empowers police empowers malice.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Good engineer designs gadgets, great engineer designs society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“History made by smartness alone, is no more than caves of silicon.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım

“Trance of Totem (The Sonnet)

This is my decree to my soldiers of the future,
Refrain from raising my giant lifeless structures!
Use the funds to build schools and hospitals instead,
Providing free/affordable education and healthcare.

Keep me alive in your heart, not in dead statues,
each one taller and more extravagant than the other,
Just so self-absorbed snobs could take the perfect selfie,
to declare an empty alliance with humanitarian behavior.

If you must have symbollic momentos of me around,
Keep them personal, humble and utterly non-extravagant.
Always remember, I am honored with your acts of love,
not with your thousand feet statues and chants unsapient.

It's a sad state of affairs, when virtues
gather moss upon the monuments of hypocrisy.
Break your trance of totem poles,
be the freedom you are meant to be!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Break your trance of totem poles, be the freedom you are meant to be!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“No world is civilized till no one is marginal.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“Sonnet 1147

Only way to grow together as a couple,
is to nourish each other's individual growth.
Only way to grow together as a society,
is to empower each other's personal growth.

Learn from Manu, Majnun, Vyas and M.A.S.H,
Absorb all good like an eager sponge.
Tradition of tribe has outstayed its welcome,
Now outgrow the fences across fearful hunch.

Na desi, na videsi,
Banna hai to bano visvadesi.
Bohot aye despar marnevaale,
Des ke par chalo sudhare
insani zindagi.

Ni local, ni extranjero,
Simplemente seamos humano.
Más allá de la patria,
más allá de la muerte,
Vivamos como un planeta pueblo.

Ni obediente, ni opresivo -
Luchando por igualdad seremos humano.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“Language and ideology are not the same thing. Sociology is a language, socialism is an ideology - economics is a language, capitalism is an ideology. Language is an act of communication, ideology is an act of miscommunication. Focus on the language, not the ideology. Because no matter how perfect an ideology appears to be, sooner or later all ideology gets corrupt, particularly because ideology thrives on rigidity - whereas all languages evolve with time at a simple, natural, and almost seamless pace, with no reliance on allegiance and popularity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“It's the welfare of society that matters, not the opinion of society run by populism.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown

“We cannot aim for the stars, with our mind smashing rocks together.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion

“In 2006 the federal government expended more than $100 million over a five-year period for marriage and fatherhood education. Interestingly, it is not until recently that the United States is doing something that African peoples have been doing for thousands of years through rites of passage programs -- preparing young people for life and the challenges of marriage and family. Because U.S. society generally takes an interventive approach to marriage, where couples seek help after the marriage is in trouble, rather than a preventive proactive approach, where couples are prepared for the challenges of marriage, most people are not prepared for a monogamous marriage, let alone a polygynous one.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“Social scientists report that before European colonialism in Africa, prostitution did not even exist.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“Family was about cultivating the best psychosocial and spiritual aspects of the individual. When I say individuals, I mean the children, the parents, everybody. This means that there would be a concerted effort to want to bring out the best of each individual member of the family.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“A woman by nature is supposed to be picky, because a woman decides the quality of our next generation by virtue of whom she sleeps with. So what we need to do first is promote the idea of women being picky. Second, we have to make sure that the choices they have to choose from are of the highest quality. Women are limiting their choices to benefit the idea of a monogamous society. The goal of polygamy for society is for everyone to seek to be the best they can be. That's what it's about. When you do that, what you find out is that those qualities become desirable, and as a result, become a part of the cycle, the cycle of history, the pact of the society.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“How a man treats his wife has to do with that individual man, whether in polygyny or monogamy.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“Rather than polygyny needing an explanation, it is monogamy that may need to be explained.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“The fact is, polygyny can exist without patriarchy.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“It is the way that it weighs on the human spirit that leads many to self-destruct. I could not help but to connect the pain that they were experiencing to my own.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“More important, the aim is to show that when polygyny is practiced openly, honestly, and by consent, it can potentially be more advantageous for women.”
― Patricia Dixon, We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves: Polygyny: A Relationship, Marriage and Family Alternative

“You should look for opportunities to turn your child into a social leader. Brownies, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Indian Guides, National Outdoor Leadership Schools, church and synagogue youth groups, and almost any type of community service opportunities are extraordinarily helpful to popular children. These opportunities allow them to turn their attractive traits into concrete acts of generosity toward others. Good leaders show respect toward other people; good leaders use win-win strategies. It is not enough for children to be smart or to be able to reflect on moral problems. Children need to be put into situations where they can practice moral acts - and that is true of the socially gifted as it is of kids who veer toward the antisocial. We have to give our naturally popular children the moral guidance to make them into true leaders.”
― Michael G. Thompson, Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children