Frans de Waal Quotes

The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the poor.

England is obsessed with where you came from, and they are determined to keep you in that place, be it in a drawing room or in the gutter.

Evolution is what it is. The upper classes have always died out; it's one of the most charming things about them.

I think snobbery is one of the oldest customs in the world, and the rich will always find ways to rank each other and make themselves feel more special than others.

The typical white intellectual considers himself superior to ordinary white people for two contradictory reasons: a) he constantly proclaims belief in human equality, but they don't ; b) he has a high IQ, but they don't.

The fight is over two fundamentally different ideas about the nature of America. On one side are those who believe that that every hardworking person should be able to rise. On the other are those who believe that wealthy white men should always rule over a permanent class of workers.

No one really believes in equality who's on top.

The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our charity.

I believe that Britain is becoming more class-conscious, and I quake at the very idea of Old Etonians ruling the world again.

Snobbery? But it's only a form of despair.

Class still matters in Britain today.

I found this out over the years, that racism is a thinly veiled disguise over economics and money. It really is.

What you're saying is that 'I, the superior elite, will take care of you.' Why? Because, you see, that superior, elite group needs to feel superior and elite. And they can't be superior and elite unless you have a whole lot of people down there groveling around. So you keep them down there by feeding them.

In poor countries, the rich and powerful crush the poor and powerless.

I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy - I don't disparage envy, but I don't accept it as legitimately my master.

I deeply detest social distinction and snobbery, and in that lies my strong aversion to titular honours.

The money I pay for my cultural experiences came willingly from my own pocket - they were not the result of bread being removed from the mouths of the poor so that Miss Thing here could mince off to the circus smelling of roses.

Those who are able to climb up the ladder will find ways to pull it up after them, or selectively lower it down to allow their friends, allies, and kin to scramble up. In other words: 'Who says meritocracy says oligarchy.'

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.

Mitt Romney subscribes to the cynical logic that says the American dream belongs to some of us but not all of us.

I don't believe in social equality, and they know it.

The man who has his millions will want everything he can lay his hands on and then raise his voice against the poor devil who wants ten cents more a day.

I hate uneducated people having power …

There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents;... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provision should be made to prevent its ascendancy.

The worker is always in the sun while the landowner is always in the shade.