Henri de Saint-Simon: Society

Henri de Saint-Simon was French early socialist theorist. Explore interesting quotes on society.
Henri de Saint-Simon: 18   quotes 14   likes

“The philosopher places himself at the summit of thought; from there he views what the world has been and what it must become. He is not just an observer, he is an actor; he is an actor of the highest kind in a moral world because it is his opinion of what the world must become that regulates society.”

Henri de Saint-Simon

Le philosophe se place au sommet de la pensée; de là il envisage ce qu'a été le monde et ce qu'il doit devenir. Il n'est pas seulement observateur, il est acteur; il est acteur du premier genre dans le monde moral, car ce sont ses opinions sur, car ce sont ses opinions sur ce que le monde doit devenir qui règlent la société humaine.
Science de l'homme: Physiologie religieuse (1858), p. 437

World

“The whole of society rests upon industry.”

Henri de Saint-Simon

L'Industrie, in Œuvres de Saint-Simon, Vol. 18 (Paris, 1868), p. 13
Context: The whole of society rests upon industry. Industry is the sole guarantee of its existence, the single source of all its wealth and all its prosperity. The state of things most favorable to industry is by that very reason the most favorable to society.

“We regard society as the ensemble and union of men engaged in useful work. We can conceive of no other kind of society.”

Henri de Saint-Simon

"Declarations of Principles"

Men

“Today, for the first time since the existence of societies it is a question of organizing a totally new system; of replacing the celestial with the terrestrial, the vague by the positive, and the poetic by the real.”

Henri de Saint-Simon

[A]ujourd'hui … [i]l est question, pour la première fois depuis l'existence des sociétés, d'organiser un système tout-à-fait nouveau, de remplacer le céleste par le terrestre, le vague par le positif, le poétique par le réel.
L'Industrie, as quoted in L'Ami de la Religion et du Roi: journal ecclésiastique, politique et littéraire, No. 336 (29 October 1817)

Question , Time

“True equality consists in each drawing benefits from society in exact proportion to his social outlay, that is to his real capacity, to the beneficent use he makes of his abilities. And this equality is the natural foundation of industrial society.”

Henri de Saint-Simon

Syst. Indus, VI, 17, as quoted from E.Durkheim, Socialism and Saint-Simon (1958)

Drawing , Making love , Nature

“Since governmental activity may be deemed a service which is useful to society, society should consent to pay for this service.”

Henri de Saint-Simon

"Declarations of Principles"