Civilization Quotes

"Barbarians always think of themselves as the bringers of civilization"

"The true law of the race is progress and development. Whenever civilization pauses in the march of conquest, it is overthrown by the barbarian"

William Gilmore Simms, Novelist

"The city is the nerve center of our civilization. It is also the storm center"

Josiah Strong, Clergyman

"The American economic, political, and social organization has given to its citizens the benefits of material prosperity, political liberty, and a wholesome natural equality; and this achievement is a gain, not only to Americans, but to the world and to civilization"

Herbert Croly, Author

"I would seriously question whether anybody is really foolish enough to really say what they mean. Sometimes I think that civilization as we know it would kind of break down if we all were completely honest"

Elizabeth Hurley, Actress

"In our civilization, men are afraid that they will not be men enough and women are afraid that they might be considered only women"

Theodor Reik, Psychologist

"Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years"

Mao Zedong, Leader

"Human civilization is not something achieved against nature; it is rather the outcome of the working of the innate qualities of man"

Ludwig von Mises, Economist

"A knowledge of the forces that rule society, of the causes that have produced its upheavals, and of society's resources for promoting healthy progress has become of vital concern to our civilization"

Wilhelm Dilthey, Historian

"Artificial Intelligence leaves no doubt that it wants its audiences to enter a realm of pure fantasy when it identifies one of the last remaining islands of civilization as New Jersey"

Godfried Danneels, Clergyman

"It is not necessary to argue to those for whom I write that the two great needs of mankind, that all men may be lifted up into the light of the highest Christian civilization, are, first, a pure, spiritual Christianity, and second, civil liberty"

Josiah Strong, Clergyman

"Civilization is maintained by a very few people in a small number of places and we need only some bombs and a few prisons to blot it out altogether"

Cyril Connolly, Journalist

"Triumphant science and technology are only at the threshold of man's command over sources of energy so stupendous that, if used for military purposes, they can wipe out our entire civilization"

Cordell Hull, Public Servant

"The more rapidly a civilization progresses, the sooner it dies for another to rise in its place"

Havelock Ellis, Psychologist

"From first to last the civilization of America has been bound up with its physical environment"

Ellsworth Huntington, Educator

"I have, for many years past, contemplated the noble races of red men who are now spread over these trackless forests and boundless prairies, melting away at the approach of civilization"

George Catlin, Artist

"The line of least resistance in the progress of civilization is to make that theoretical postulate real by the continually increasing force of the world's public opinion"

Elihu Root, Lawyer

"The vast upheaval of the World War set in motion forces that will either destroy civilization or raise mankind to undreamed of heights of human welfare and prosperity"

Arthur Henderson, Politician

"Tolerance is held to be a condition of mind which is encouraged by, and is necessary for, civilization"

Arthur Keith, Scientist

"Civilization never stands still; if in one country it is falling back, in another it is changing, evolving, becoming more complicated, bringing fresh experience to body and mind, breeding new desires, and exploiting Nature's cupboard for their satisfaction"

Arthur Keith, Scientist

"I think governments are the cancer of civilization"

Chuck D., Musician

"To deal with the true causes of war one must begin by recognizing as of prime relevancy to the solution of the problem the familiar fact that civilization is a partial, incomplete, and, to a great extent, superficial modification of barbarism"

Elihu Root, Lawyer

"This freedom of political discussion on the highest level is something which Western civilization has in common with that of classical antiquity, but with no other"

Christopher Dawson, Writer

"No doubt Western civilization has in the past been full of wars and revolutions, and the national elements in our culture, even when they were ignored, always provided an unconscious driving force of passion and aggressive self-assertion"

Christopher Dawson, Writer

"Every great movement in the history of Western civilization from the Carolingian age to the nineteenth century has been an international movement which owed its existence and its development to the cooperation of many different peoples"

Christopher Dawson, Writer

"I do not believe that the values which the Western democracies consider essential to civilization can survive in a world rent by the international anarchy of nationalism and the economic anarchy of competitive enterprise"

Arthur Henderson, Politician

"In this respect, the history of science, like the history of all civilization, has gone through cycles"

Abdus Salam, Scientist

"He would see civilization in danger of perishing under the oppression of a gigantic paradox: he would see multitudes of people starving in the midst of plenty, and nations preparing for war although pledged to peace"

Arthur Henderson, Politician

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within"

Ariel Durant, Author

"Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without it there is no stability in society, and without it one cannot attain the Science of Life"

Mary Baker Eddy, Theologian

"Cities have always been the fireplaces of civilization, whence light and heat radiated out into the dark"

Theodore Parker, Theologian

"Civilization exists precisely so that there may be no masses but rather men alert enough never to constitute masses"

Georges Bernanos, Author

"Against the dark background of this contemporary civilization of well-being, even the arts tend to mingle, to lose their identity"

Eugenio Montale, Poet

"We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology"

Carl Sagan, Scientist

"Sex appeal is the keynote of our civilization"

Henri Bergson, Philosopher

"So long as the system of competition in the production and exchange of the means of life goes on, the degradation of the arts will go on; and if that system is to last for ever, then art is doomed, and will surely die; that is to say, civilization will die"

William Morris, Designer

"China is a civilization pretending to be a nation"

Michael Ledeen, Writer

"I believe with all my heart that civilization has produced nothing finer than a man or woman who thinks and practices true tolerance"

Frank Knox, Public Servant

"Civilization consists in the multiplication and refinement of human wants"

Robert Millikan

"The two World Wars came in part, like much modern literature and art, because men, whose nature is to tire of everything in turn... tired of common sense and civilization"

F. L. Lucas, Critic

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