"Of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now"
- Arnold J. Toynbee
About this Quote
This quote by Arnold J. Toynbee is a plain warning about the present state of the United States. He is recommending that the moral state of the US is comparable to that of nineteen of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, and that these civilizations eventually collapsed. This implies that the United States is in danger of suffering the exact same fate if it does not address its ethical issues. Toynbee is most likely referring to the ethical decline of the United States in terms of its worths, beliefs, and habits. He is suggesting that the United States is in threat of losing its moral compass and that this might lead to its downfall. This quote serves as a tip that the United States must take actions to resolve its ethical issues in order to avoid the same fate as the nineteen civilizations that have come prior to it.
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