Charles Horton Cooley Quotes

A collection of quotes by Charles Horton Cooley.

Charles Horton Cooley was an American sociologist and scholar, born on August 17, 1864, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of American sociology. Cooley's work primarily focused on the study of human nature and social interaction, emphasizing the importance of social relationships in shaping individual identity and self-esteem.

Cooley completed his education at the University of Michigan, where he later joined the faculty as a professor of sociology. In 1909, he published his most influential work, "Human Nature and the Social Order," in which he introduced the concept of the "looking-glass self." This theory posited that individuals shape their self-image based on how they believe others perceive them. According to Cooley, individuals gain a sense of self through the interactions and feedback they receive from others.

Cooley's work contributed significantly to the development of symbolic interactionism, a sociological perspective that emphasizes the role of symbols and language in human interaction. He believed that individuals' understanding of themselves and society is derived from the meanings they attribute to symbols and interactions within their social groups.

Beyond his academic pursuits, Cooley was involved in various professional organizations and served as the president of the American Sociological Association in 1918. Throughout his career, he wrote numerous articles and books, exploring topics such as social organization, group dynamics, and the influence of public opinion.

Charles Horton Cooley's ideas have had a lasting impact on the field of sociology, shaping our understanding of self and society. He passed away on May 8, 1929, leaving behind a rich legacy of sociological thought.

The idea that seeing life means going from place to place an

The idea that seeing life means going from place to place and doing a great variety of obvious things is an illusion natural to dull minds.

Charles Horton Cooley


To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, t

To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.

Charles Horton Cooley


There is no way to penetrate the surface of life but by atta

There is no way to penetrate the surface of life but by attacking it earnestly at a particular point.

Charles Horton Cooley


A person of mature years and ripe development, who is expect

A person of mature years and ripe development, who is expecting nothing from literature but the corroboration and renewal of past ideas, may find satisfaction in a lucidity so complete as to occasion no imaginative excitement, but young and ambitious students are not content with it. They seek the excitement because they are capable of the growth that it accompanies.

Charles Horton Cooley


A talent somewhat above mediocrity, shrewd and not too sensi

A talent somewhat above mediocrity, shrewd and not too sensitive, is more likely to rise in the world than genius.

Charles Horton Cooley


We are born to action; and whatever is capable of suggesting

We are born to action; and whatever is capable of suggesting and guiding action has power over us from the first.

Charles Horton Cooley


Simplicity is a pleasant thing in children, or at any age, b

Simplicity is a pleasant thing in children, or at any age, but it is not necessarily admirable, nor is affectation altogether a thing of evil. To be normal, to be at home in the world, with a prospect of power, usefulness, or success, the person must have that imaginative insight into other minds that underlies tact and savoir-faire, morality and beneficence. This insight involves sophistication, some understanding and sharing of the clandestine impulses of human nature. A simplicity that is merely the lack of this insight indicates a sort of defect.

Charles Horton Cooley


The mind is not a hermit's cell, but a place of hospitality

The mind is not a hermit's cell, but a place of hospitality and intercourse.

Charles Horton Cooley


The need to exert power, when thwarted in the open fields of

The need to exert power, when thwarted in the open fields of life, is the more likely to assert itself in trifles.

Charles Horton Cooley


Institutions -- government, churches, industries, and the li

Institutions -- government, churches, industries, and the like -- have properly no other function than to contribute to human freedom; and in so far as they fail, on the whole, to perform this function, they are wrong and need reconstruction.

Charles Horton Cooley


One of the great reasons for the popularity of strikes is th

One of the great reasons for the popularity of strikes is that they give the suppressed self a sense of power. For once the human tool knows itself a man, able to stand up and speak a word or strike a blow.

Charles Horton Cooley


One who shows signs of mental aberration is, inevitably, per

One who shows signs of mental aberration is, inevitably, perhaps, but cruelly, shut off from familiar, thoughtless intercourse, partly excommunicated; his isolation is unwittingly proclaimed to him on every countenance by curiosity, indifference, aversion, or pity, and in so far as he is human enough to need free and equal communication and feel the lack of it, he suffers pain and loss of a kind and degree which others can only faintly imagine, and for the most part ignore.

Charles Horton Cooley


Each man must have his I; it is more necessary to him than b

Each man must have his I; it is more necessary to him than bread; and if he does not find scope for it within the existing institutions he will be likely to make trouble.

Charles Horton Cooley


We have no higher life that is really apart from other peopl

We have no higher life that is really apart from other people. It is by imagining them that our personality is built up; to be without the power of imagining them is to be a low-grade idiot.

Charles Horton Cooley


There is hardly any one so insignificant that he does not se

There is hardly any one so insignificant that he does not seem imposing to some one at some time.

Charles Horton Cooley


The bashful are always aggressive at heart.

The bashful are always aggressive at heart.

Charles Horton Cooley


By recognizing a favorable opinion of yourself, and taking p

By recognizing a favorable opinion of yourself, and taking pleasure in it, you in a measure give yourself and your peace of mind into the keeping of another, of whose attitude you can never be certain. You have a new source of doubt and apprehension.

Charles Horton Cooley


The human mind is indeed a cave swarming with strange forms

The human mind is indeed a cave swarming with strange forms of life, most of them unconscious and unilluminated. Unless we can understand something as to how the motives that issue from this obscurity are generated, we can hardly hope to foresee or control them.

Charles Horton Cooley


The more developed sexual passion, in both sexes, is very la

The more developed sexual passion, in both sexes, is very largely an emotion of power, domination, or appropriation. There is no state of feeling that says mine, mine, more fiercely.

Charles Horton Cooley


The passion of self-aggrandizement is persistent but plastic

The passion of self-aggrandizement is persistent but plastic; it will never disappear from a vigorous mind, but may become morally higher by attaching itself to a larger conception of what constitutes the self.

Charles Horton Cooley