In all nations an exceptional man exists that compensates the deficiencies of the remainder. In those moments, when humanity is found collectively in a state of decadence, there always remain those exceptional beings as point of reference.
Augusto Roa Bastos
The fate of nations is intimately bound up with their powers of reproduction. All nations and all empires first felt decadence gnawing at them when their birth rate fell off.
Benito Mussolini
If cleverness has often been a sign of decadence throughout history, the attempt to be too clever by half is an even more reliable marker of cultural decline.
Bill Kristol
Everyone thinks of the roaring twenties and associates it with decadence and flappers, female sexual liberation, the freedom of women to express themselves, the beginning of feminism. But it was also a time of huge, huge change.
Billy Howle
In a free society, government reflects the soul of its people. If people want change at the top, they will have to live in different ways. Our major social problems are not the cause of our decadence. They are a reflection of it.
Cal Thomas
I have always thought of sophistication as rather a feeble substitute for decadence.
Christopher Hampton
The difference between our decadence and the Russians is that while theirs is brutal, ours is apathetic.
David Sarnoff
Decadence is a difficult word to use since it has become little more than a term of abuse applied by critics to anything they do not yet understand or which seems to differ from their moral concepts.
Ernest Hemingway
I wanted to be an actor from a young age, but actually becoming one and seen the ugly side of the world does feel different and sometimes unwelcome. There are shallow, vapid, untalented people zombieing the streets of Hollywood, adding decadence and immorality to an already extravagant business.
Fran Kranz
Decadence is wonderful.
Jack L. Chalker
The difference between our decadence and the Russians' is that while theirs is brutal, ours is apathetic.
James Thurber
The story of the decadence of the cathedral as a moral power, a spiritual energizer in civilization, is the sad but inevitable story of dogmatism. It is the story of the struggle of free thought with bigotry, religion making common cause with the wrong side.
Jenkin Lloyd Jones
I live in New Orleans part of the year, and it's a really fun eating town. I bought two homes there, one to live in and one as an investment. They love to eat, drink and dress up in costumes. There are so many reasons to dress up - Mardi Gras, Halloween, Southern Decadence.
Jennifer Coolidge
Fame introduced me to a world of instant gratification and decadence I hadn't seen before.
Jesse Metcalfe
America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization.
John O'Hara
I've always been drawn to the Edwardian period in England. To me, it seems like such a fascinating time, when the British Empire was at the height of its powers and the strict mores of the Victorian age were dissipating into the decadence of King Edward's reign.
Kevin Kwan
'Sunset Boulevard' - the story of Hollywood movies draped on a depressing sex affair - is an uncompromising study of American decadence displaying a sad, worn, methodical beauty few films have had since the late twenties.
Manny Farber
When I came to America, there was a lot of decadence in New York in the early '70s because the city was bankrupt and you could do whatever you want!
Maripol
The American system is a beautiful and durable thing, but flawed. I would like to think that this decadence is not sustainable, whether in the eyes of the electorate or the eyes of whatever the local economy is built on; that would bring me hope.
Mark Leibovich
First of all, whoever didn't want to be a member of this association or the other association, was branded, you know, like a dangerous individualist, you know, infected by the Western decadence, you know. So everybody joined.
Milos Forman
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.
The thing that attracted me to 'CSI' is that these guys are always professional, but underneath, it's teeming with a heavy shadow. Maybe even some decadence and some weirdness with certain characters! And that always intrigued me as an actor.
I am the Empire at the end of the decadence.
Much of the misgiving that Muslims feel for the West stems from our strong emphasis on freedom, always a risky enterprise. I've heard some say they would rather rear their children in a closely guarded Islamic society than in the United States, where freedom so often leads to decadence.
Civilizations are built by the ceaseless toil of a succession of generations. With softness and sloth, civilizations succumb. Let us beware of decadence.
An age which is incapable of poetry is incapable of any kind of literature except the cleverness of a decadence.
In 2010, Republicans took control of politics in Alabama by advocating for increased transparency and an end to government corruption, but instead of ending it, they have raised the level of corruption to the point that the stench of dishonesty fills the air, decadence drives policy, and bribery is the norm in Montgomery.
I definitely consider 'Poses' - the whole album in fact - to be kind of a miracle. Like the last breath of that moment when decadence is healthy, 'Poses' encapsulates that feeling. It's a kind of song and a kind of album that I'll never be able to repeat.
The daily glitter of skyscrapers competing with the stars is an unnecessary, unforgivable decadence.
You gotta eat right, you gotta have healthy habits, you know, and balance out your decadence with a healthy lifestyle during the day.
It's easy to say, 'I'm anti-capitalist,' or, 'I'm anti-Western decadence,' without having to be challenged about what that actually means, or how you might go about reshaping society to make it better.
Certain Arabs love Dubai because it's not at all like where they live. Certain others hate it for the same reason. When you hear an Osama bin Laden sympathizer rant about the decadence and hypocrisy of the Arab ruling class, you can be certain he's picturing a nightclub in Dubai.
