--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The standard that a society should…" description: "\"The standard that a society should actually embody its own professed principles is a utopian one, in the sense that moral principles contradict the way..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/014/susan-sontag-332_community_the-standard-that-a-society-should-actua_133070.jpg" --- # The standard that a society should actually embody its own… ![“The standard that a society should actually embody its own professed principles is a utopian one, in the sense that moral principles contradict the way things really are --- and always will be. How things really are --- and always will be --- is neither all-evil nor all-good but deficient…” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/014/susan-sontag-332_community_the-standard-that-a-society-should-actua_133070.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/014/susan-sontag-332_community_the-standard-that-a-society-should-actua_133070.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/014/susan-sontag-332_community_the-standard-that-a-society-should-actua_133070.jpg) > “The standard that a society should actually embody its own professed principles is a utopian one, in the sense that moral principles contradict the way things really are --- and always will be. How things really are --- and always will be --- is neither all-evil nor all-good but deficient, inconsistent, inferior. Principles invite us to do something about the morass of contradictions in which we function morally. Principles invite us to clean up our act; to become intolerant of moral laxity and compromise and cowardice and the turning away from what is upsetting: that secret gnawing of the heart that tells us that what we are doing is not right, and so counsels us that we'd be better off just not thinking about it.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Societies claim ideals that clash with reality; principles urge moral improvement despite inherent contradictions. **In simple terms:** Principles clash with reality, urging moral action. Key Takeaway Act on principles despite flaws. Themes ethics philosophy social critique Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - policy making - personal ethics - activism - education Key Concepts moral idealism human inconsistency principle vs practice Questions to Reflect On - How can societies reconcile ideals with reality? - What personal steps reflect moral principles? A Different Perspective Principles may be idealistic and hard to implement universally. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Ethics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ethics/) [Integrity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/integrity/) [Moral principles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-principles/) [Morality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morality/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) [Utopia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utopia/) ## Related quotes > [Being a moral realist I see normative ethics as a search of the truth about our obligations and a search of explanation; the idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torbjorn-tannsjo/being-a-moral-realist-i-see-normative-ethics-as-a-search-of-the-truth/) [Torbjorn Tannsjo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/torbjorn-tannsjo/) > [“We've already had Malthus , the friend of humanity. 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Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) [Browse all 13,840 Community quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The standard that a society should actually embody its own professed principles is a utopian one, in the sense that moral principles contradict the way things really are --- and always will be. How things really are --- and always will be --- is neither all-evil nor all-good but deficient, inconsistent, inferior. Principles invite us to do something about the morass of contradictions in which we function morally. Principles invite us to clean up our act; to become intolerant of moral laxity and compromise and cowardice and the turning away from what is upsetting: that secret gnawing of the heart that tells us that what we are doing is not right, and so counsels us that we'd be better off just not thinking about it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Sontag" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-standard-that-a-society-should-actually-embody-its-own-professed/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Community" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-standard-that-a-society-should-actually-embody-its-own-professed/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/014/susan-sontag-332_community_the-standard-that-a-society-should-actua_133070.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/014/susan-sontag-332_community_the-standard-that-a-society-should-actua_133070.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/014/susan-sontag-332_community_the-standard-that-a-society-should-actua_133070.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The standard that a society should actually embody its own professed principles is a utopian one, in the…” — Susan Sontag", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Susan Sontag", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The standard that a society should...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-standard-that-a-society-should-actually-embody-its-own-professed/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-standard-that-a-society-should-actually-embody-its-own-professed/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```