The human race has improved everything, but the human race.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.
—B. F. Skinner (1904–90) American Psychologist, Social Philosopher, Inventor, Author
Civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest.
—Emile Zola (1840–1902) French Novelist
We are no longer in a state of growth; we are in a state of excess. We are living in a society of excrescence. The boil is growing out of control, recklessly at cross purposes with itself, its impacts multiplying as the causes disintegrate.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Education is the transmission of civilization.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
The old Hindoo saw, in his dream, the human race led out to its various fortunes. — First, men were in chains, that went back to an iron hand — then he saw them led by threads from the brain, which went upward to an unseen hand. The first was despotism, iron, and ruling by force. — The last was civilization, ruling by ideas.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
When you can’t do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing.
—Lois McMaster Bujold (b.1949) American Novelist, Writer
Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
We used to build civilizations. Now we build shopping malls.
—Bill Bryson (1951–95) American Humorist, Author, Educator
Civilization is the distance man has placed between himself and his excreta.
—Brian Aldiss (1925–2017) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer
Civilization is the lamb’s skin in which barbarism masquerades.
—Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) American Poet, Novelist, Traveler, Editor
The test of civilization is the estimate of woman.
—George William Curtis (1824–92) American Essayist, Public Speaker, Editor, Author
Is man’s civilization only a wrappage, through which the savage nature of him can still burst, infernal as ever?
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Civilization is being poisoned by its own waste products
—William Motter Inge (1913–73) American Playwright, Novelist
Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to baths, diet, exercise, and air?
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Science Religious Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.
—Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British Historian
A civilized man is one who will give a serious answer to a serious question. Civilization itself is a certain sane balance of values.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
If you would civilize a man, begin with his grandmother.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Civilization is the order and freedom promoting cultural activity.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men.
—Jane Addams (1860–1935) American Social Activist, Political Activist, Author, Lecturer
Civilization is drugs, alcohol, engines of war, prostitution, machines and machine slaves, low wages, bad food, bad taste, prisons, reformatories, lunatic asylums, divorce, perversion, brutal sports, suicides, infanticide, cinema, quackery, demagogy, strikes, lockouts, revolutions, putsches, colonization, electric chairs, guillotines, sabotage, floods, famine, disease, gangsters, money barons, horse racing, fashion shows, poodle dogs, chow dogs, Siamese cats, condoms, peccaries, syphilis, gonorrhea, insanity, neuroses, etc., etc.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.
—Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British Historian
It may indeed prove to be far the most difficult and not the least important task for human reason rationally to comprehend its own limitations. It is essential for the growth of reason that as individuals we should bow to forces and obey principles which we cannot hope fully to understand, yet on which the advance and even the preservation of civilization depends. Historically this has been achieved by the influence of the various religious creeds and by traditions and superstitions which made man submit to those forces by an appeal to his emotions rather than to his reason. The most dangerous stage in the growth of civilization may well be that in which man has come to regard all these beliefs as superstitions and refuses to accept or to submit to anything which he does not rationally understand. The rationalist whose reason is not sufficient to teach him those limitations of the powers of conscious reason, and who despises all the institutions and customs which have not been consciously designed, would thus become the destroyer of the civilization built upon them. This may well prove a hurdle which man will repeatedly reach, only to be thrown back into barbarism.
—Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) British Economist, Social Philosopher
We pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within.
—Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) American Paleontologist
Without winners, there wouldn’t even be any civilization.
—Woody Hayes (1913–87) American Sportsperson