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Civilization Quotes
"The first requisite of civilization is that of justice."
286
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society."
185
"Justice has nothing to do with victor nations and vanquished nations, but must be a moral standard that all the world's peoples can agree to. To seek this and to achieve it - that is true civilization."
168
"Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder."
154
"Not a single piece of material culture - not a single object - has been found at Giza that can be interpreted to come from a lost civilization."
141
"If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism."
121
"It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct."
116
"Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization."
105
"I ascribe a basic importance to the phenomenon of language. To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization."
80
"The Industrial Revolution was another of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization."
78
"A civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence."
73
"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."
64
"Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization."
63
"We must plant the sea and herd its animals using the sea as farmers instead of hunters. That is what civilization is all about - farming replacing hunting."
63
"The European talks of progress because by the aid of a few scientific discoveries he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilisation."
62
"I would say colonialism is a wonderful thing. It spread civilization to Africa. Before it they had no written language, no wheel as we know it, no schools, no hospitals, not even normal clothing."
59
"To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization."
57
"Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor."
56
"China is a civilization pretending to be a nation."
56
"America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization."
55
"That is why I come forward tonight without any political label, without any bias, but just simply as an Englishman to say to you: a crime is being committed against civilization."
55
"The city has become a serious menace to our civilization... It has a peculiar attraction for the immigrant."
54
"Without adventure civilization is in full decay."
54
"The ultimate tendency of civilization is towards barbarism."
53
"The perfect normal person is rare in our civilization."
52
"Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos."
52
"Civilization, we shall find, like Universalism and Christianity, is anti evolutionary in its effects; it works against the laws and conditions which regulated the earlier stages of man's ascent."
51
"I believe with all my heart that civilization has produced nothing finer than a man or woman who thinks and practices true tolerance."
50
"When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization."
50
"You know, our sense of individuality is just the number one target of civilization."
50
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
50
"The true law of the race is progress and development. Whenever civilization pauses in the march of conquest, it is overthrown by the barbarian."
50
"Today, human civilization is drowning in a sea of lies."
50
"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."
49
"The disease of mutual distrust among nations is the bane of modern civilization."
49
"The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself."
48
"I do not believe that civilizations have to die because civilization is not an organism. It is a product of wills."
47
"Cities have always been the fireplaces of civilization, whence light and heat radiated out into the dark."
46
"It is only through books that we partake of the great harvest that is human civilization across the ages."
46
"We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before."
45
"It is just because civilization is ever evolving, changing, and becoming more complicated, that experts find it so difficult to define it in explicit terms."
45
"There is precious little in civilization to appeal to a Yeti."
45
"Against the dark background of this contemporary civilization of well-being, even the arts tend to mingle, to lose their identity."
45
"Every civilization depends on the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness-- they cannot work and their civilization collapses."
45
"The market is not an invention of capitalism. It has existed for centuries. It is an invention of civilization."
44
"We have always been taught that navigation is the result of civilization, but modern archeology has demonstrated very clearly that this is not so."
44
"A modern civilization is only possible when it is accepted that singular beings exist and express themselves freely."
44
"To the present writer a careful study of the facts now available seems to leave no doubt that civilization was born at the southeast corner of the Mediterranean."
43
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