S. I. Hayakawa Quotes

For my part, the thing I would wish to obtain from money would be leisure with security. But what the typical modern man desires to get with it is more money, with a view to ostentation, splendour, and the outshining of those who have hitherto been his equals.

The atmosphere at my school was very competitive. Young girls were competing with each other every day for status, for leadership, for the affection of the teachers. I hated it.

Culture and possessions, there is the bourgeoisie for you.

Here in the United States, we're consumed by our love of money and status. We think bigger is better, and if we can just get that promotion, all will be well with our souls. There's one fatal flaw to this mindset: it's all smoke and mirrors.

A popular man arouses the jealousy of the powerful.

Education! Is it education to teach the young that their chances of happiness depend on being richer than their neighbors? Yet that is what it all tends to. Get on! - be successful!

But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate.

You want to please society. You want to be happy. You want to be well liked. You want to be held in high esteem and be respected. These are real things. You want respect from your peers, respect from your loved ones; you want to be looked up to for your achievements and your accomplishments. All of this requires conformity in some form or another.

I was not a queen bee, ever.

Fame, in Trumpian fashion, is war. You are expected to defend your fame; many people want to take it from you.

How many BMWs do you need? How many Rolex watches you gonna wear in your lifetime, for crying out loud? What is it about that kind of desire? I don't understand it.

It's a team sport but every player's ego will kick in at a certain point.

People look at Instagram and say they want money, they want this, they want that.

I want my kids to win. Winners get the corner office, the big house, the hot wife, the whole nine.

It's great to have a job you find rewarding, but let's face it, we're not saving people's lives. 'Oh gosh, they've got a larger Winnebago than me!' Who cares? It's what ends up on the screen that counts.

Fame and money and all that - you hear people say it a lot, but they don't mean a thing to me.

I'm sure that it's a universal experience, but I wonder if it gets exacerbated more in Los Angeles, where people are constantly looking over at the other people, going, 'Why don't I have that? I want that. Their table looks warmer.'

It's never my goal to throw any of my peers under the bus.

There are a lot of people on Instagram desperately trying to keep up with the Joneses.

In secondary school, I became aware of the idea of being cool, and that was a bit of a shell shock.

I don't understand why everyone fights for power, money, fame.

Networks are operating from a fear base where it's all about playing the popularity game.

Even Instagram has become a way to show off your girl group and make other girls feel left out.

I think people are more alike than they are different, especially in high school. No matter what clique you belong to, everybody's trying to get approval and trying to fit in.

I think the debating thing actually helped to establish to me that being popular was completely worthless. I didn't enjoy the social dynamic and immediately left after becoming number one. But it felt like I needed to do it to know what it was like. It wasn't just that I was an aggressive person, although that probably is true to an extent.