Seamus Heaney Quotes

People are not wrong in observing Caste. In my view, what is wrong is their religion, which has inculcated this notion of Caste. If this is correct, then obviously the enemy, you must grapple with is not the people who observe Caste, but the Shastras which teach them this religion of Caste.

Simple peck-order bullying is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, and all the other 'isms' that cause so much suffering in the world.

Ideas are fatal to caste.

Class - or the economic status of individuals - is evident in all societies, some very well stratified by a rigid caste system determined by birth.

English people are so trapped in this class paradigm.

One of the problems with the identification of Christianity with love is how such a view turns out to be both anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic. The Jews and Catholics become identified with the law or dogma, in contrast to Protestant Christians, who are about love.

The hierarchy of class in London was rigid. It was like a religion. It still is to a certain extent.

Class structures are a luxury that we cannot afford.

Is class snobbery a social reality in the United States? Absolutely, and the kind that's codified by meritocracy is probably more toxic than the old-fashioned kind based on bloodlines.

I think there's really strong social stratification in South Asia.

I don't like a class system. I don't like the idea of being in a different class than other people.

Since the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland wants to remain a part of Great Britain, and since Ireland itself has shown little interest in reunification, the IRA's prospects for success through political channels have always been limited.

The reality of life in Northern Ireland is that if you were Protestant, you learned British history, and if you were Catholic, you learned Irish history in school.

Prejudices are the props of civilization.

The division of society into estates or castes means in effect that conceptually and organizationally these ‘natural’ forms are established without their economic basis ever becoming conscious

… the strangest sight in the world—two races hating one another for the love of God

A Moslem must not act as masseur to a Jew or Christian; he must not clear their rubbish nor clean their latrines. In fact, the Jew and the Christian are more suited for such work, which are degrading tasks. A Moslem must not act as a guide or stableman for an animal owned by a Jew or Christian; he must not act as their donkey-driver or hold the stirrups for them.

I was also pained to notice an institution which I certainly did not expect to find in this country – I mean caste. Your rich people are really Brahmins, and your poor people are Sudras.

In India, cast not class … is what counts most in popular life.

Tory society is a closed society, in which birth and wealth have priority.

There is a culture war being waged against God-fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle class, Protestant, … heterosexual, gun owning Americans.

Caste in India is the first and last reality.

Even after Independence, we have had to face the poison of casteism and communalism. How long these evils will continue? Whom does it benefit?

Caste may be bad. Caste may lead to conduct so gross as to be called man's inhumanity to man. All the same, it must be recognized that the Hindus observe Caste not because they are inhuman or wrong-headed. They observe Caste because they are deeply religious.

Why do human beings find it so hard to live and let live? Countries are messing with each other. Religions are messing with each other. Castes are messing with each other; people mess with each other.