Decadence Quotations

I have always thought of sophistication as rather a feeble substitute for decadence.

I am the Empire at the end of the decadence.

The difference between our decadence and the Russians' is that while theirs is brutal, ours is apathetic.

Ultimately we must concern ourselves with pulling out by its roots the decadence that controls our culture, the profit motive that controls our culture.

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.

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!

I was very much a daddy's girl, and was pretty tyrannical when he was sleeping. If I could get into trouble, I would. I didn't have a lot of respect for those people because I saw a lot of debauchery and decadence going on. People trying to hid it from me, but I was onto them.

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.

The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.

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.

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.

America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization.

'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.

Decadence is wonderful.

Elaborate burial customs are a sure sign of decadence.

Fame introduced me to a world of instant gratification and decadence I hadn't seen before.

To be wrong, and to be carefully wrong, that is the definition of decadence.

What we now have is the freedom which attends decadence, or the decadence which attends freedom.

Content without style is propaganda or adolescence. Style without content is decadence.

How does one make a movie about decadence these days? Now that we're allowed to do it, it's too late.

When the storytelling goes bad in a society, the result is decadence.