Logo - Feel The Words

Degeneration Quotes

On decline, conscience and change

These Degeneration quotes examine decline in several forms, including one speaker's claim that middle age is the Best time, if a person can escape a fading conscience along the way.

I think middle-age is the best time, if we can escape the fatty degeneration of the conscience which often sets in at about fifty.

Quotes by William Inge

In marriage, a man becomes slack and selfish, and undergoes a fatty degeneration of his moral being.

Quotes by Robert Louis Stevenson

If you look back today over the last 25 years, it is a fact that we have had a progressive degeneration of our intelligence community in general; in particular in the field of human intelligence.

Quotes by Paul Bremer

It would be wrong to assume that one must stay with a research programme until it has exhausted all its heuristic power, that one must not introduce a rival programme before everybody agrees that the point of degeneration has probably...

Quotes by Imre Lakatos

America Quotes

America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.

Quotes by Georges Clemenceau

It is claimed, but with what truth we cannot say, that there is a well-defined propaganda among the aliens of colour to bring about the degeneration of the white race.

Quotes by Emily Murphy

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 'fatty degeneration of the conscience' mean in these quotes?
It's used as a metaphor for a conscience that weakens or grows lazy with age, comparable to how the word describes physical tissue losing function. One quote ties this specifically to a risk that can set in around fifty.
Do these quotes connect degeneration to marriage?
Yes, one quote claims marriage can make a man slack and selfish, describing it as a fatty degeneration of his moral character rather than a source of growth.
Is degeneration discussed outside of personal or moral decline?
One quote uses it to describe institutional decline, arguing that intelligence work, particularly human intelligence gathering, has progressively weakened over roughly 25 years.
What does the research programme quote say about abandoning ideas too early?
It argues against dropping a research programme before its potential is fully tested, cautioning that a rival approach shouldn't be introduced until there's wide agreement the original has run its course.
Is the overall tone of these Degeneration quotes hopeful or critical?
Mostly critical; the quotes describe decline in conscience, relationships and institutions alike, though the middle-age quote hints that escaping degeneration is at least possible with awareness.

Others turn to institutional decline, describing a slow erosion within fields like intelligence work, a theme worth pairing with our Being quotes collection.