“Pleasers … make up what Earl Shorris has called “the oppressed middle,” the middle-managers who enjoy “the comforts of fearful people” and pay by submitting to their superiors’ definitions of happiness and success.”

— Sam Keen

Source: The Passionate Life (1983), p. 82

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Sam Keen 56

author, professor, and philosopher 1931

Arnold Hauser (1892–1978) Hungarian art historian

The Social History of Art, Volume I. From Prehistoric Times to the Middle Ages, 1999, Chapter IV. The Middle Ages

“Once you call something a story, it's set in stone. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end that can't be transformed, because by definition, if you do that, it's not the same story anymore”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

“The success of the middle class alliance depended on the acceptance by the working class element of middle class leadership and middle class ideas.”

Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) British politician

Chartism: An Introductory Essay (1929), p. 85

“Success is becoming in middle adulthood what you dreamed to be in late childhood.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb book The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

Source: The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 22

“What Senator McCain has lately been suggesting is that somehow I'm going to take money from people making over $250,000, and give it to people who "pay no taxes". What he's confusing is the fact that even if you don't pay income tax, there are a lot of people who don't pay income tax, but you're still paying a whole lot of other taxes. You're paying payroll tax, which is a huge burden on a lot of middle-income families. You're paying sales taxes. You're paying property taxes. There are a whole host of taxes that you're paying. So when we provide an offset to the waitress or the janitor, these folks are working.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

This isn't some giveaway to people who are on welfare. This is giving help to people who are working hard every day.
Remarks at a a rally in Lake Worth, Florida (21 October 2008) http://www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2008/10/21/20081021_wrap.mp3
2008

“I grew up in a middle-class family in the middle of America in the middle of the last century.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Economic policy speech, May 29, 2007. http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=1839
Presidential campaign (January 20, 2007 – 2008)

“To me, the term ‘middle-class’ connotes a safe, comfortable, middle-of-the road policy. Above all, our language is ‘middle-class’ in the middle of our road. To drive it to one side or the other or even off the road, is the noblest task of the future.”

Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914) German author

“The radical middle movement is phenomenally diverse. But if you look at what everyone who might be called radical middle is saying and doing, you'll discover we share four goals. I like to call them our Four Key Values:”

Mark Satin (1946) American political theorist, author, and newsletter publisher

1. maximize choices for every American (and for the U.S. as a whole) as much as possible;
2. guarantee a fair start in life for every American;
3. maximize every American's human potential as much as possible;
4. be of genuine help to everyone in the developing world.
Source: Radical Middle (2004), Chapter 1, "A Creative and Practical Politics," p. 6.

“People that make up stuff and call it truth have the power to imagine all kinds of nonsense. But that’s what it is all about. It really is make believe, and it took me the longest time to figure that out. I thought, honestly, naively, even into middle age. I was in my 30s before I realised there were some people who do not believe what they do for a reason.”

Aron Ra (1962) Aron Ra is an atheist activist and the host of the Ra-Men Podcast

Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist https://conatusnews.com/interview-aron-ra-past-president-atheist-alliance-america/, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)

“We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down.”

Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960) Welsh politician

In the Observer, 6 December 1953.
1950s

“Pleasers … make up what Earl Shorris has called “the oppressed middle,” the middle-managers who enjoy “the comforts of fearful people” and pay by submitting to their superiors’ definitions of happiness and success.”

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