[I]t is no longer clear which way is up even if one wants to rise. — David Riesman

"Parents today are the stage managers for the meetings of three- and four-year-olds, just as, in earlier eras, the adults managed marriages."

"Words not only affect us temporarily; they change us, they socialize or unsocialize us."

"The media, far from being a conspiracy to dull the political sense of the people, could be viewed as a conspiracy to disguise the extent of political indifference."

"The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading: men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other."

"Today the future occupation of all moppets is to be skilled consumers."

"Etiquette can be at the same time a means of approaching people and of staying clear of them."