QuoteProject
Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion. The industrial society ... recognises nothing except the power to acquire ... No other kind of hope or satisfaction or pleasure can any longer be envisaged within the culture of capitalism.
John Berger
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that glamour and societal values are intertwined with envy and capitalism, indicating that our desires are shaped by the standards of wealth and acquisition.

John Berger's quote critiques the capitalist culture, emphasizing that glamour—a construct of beauty and desirability—thrives on envy among people. In an industrial society, the pursuit of wealth becomes the primary source of hope and pleasure, overshadowing other potential avenues for fulfillment and pushing aside the notion of satisfaction derived from non-material aspects of life.

Themes

GlamourEnvyCapitalismSocietyWealthPower

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about consumer culture, one could reference this quote to highlight the role of envy in driving societal values.

More from John Berger

The strange power of art is sometimes it can show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them. It seems to me it's something that theatre can do, but it's rare; it's very rare.
John BergerRead
Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.
John BergerRead
We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.
John BergerRead
The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
John BergerRead
Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.
John BergerRead
Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy's place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
John BergerRead

Similar quotes

Faith is a mockery if it does not teach us that we can build a more complete and beautiful world.
Helen KellerRead
There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God's sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience.
John OwenRead
Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out.
Markus ZusakRead
I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.
James JoyceRead
A person is an individual substance of a rational nature.
BoethiusRead
It is the vice of a vulgar mind to be thrilled by bigness, to think that a thousand square miles are a thousand times more wonderful than one square mile, and that a million square miles are almost the same as heaven.
E. M. ForsterRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.