111 Quotes About Civilisation

Rome might not have been built in a day, but it didn’t fall overnight either.

Empires fall and drag their brands of civilization down with them.

Few travelled in these days, for, thanks to the advance of science, the earth was exactly alike all over. Rapid intercourse, from which the previous civilization had hoped so much, had ended by defeating itself. What was the good of going to Peking when it was just like Shrewsbury? Why return to Shrewsbury when it would all be like Peking? Men seldom moved their bodies; all unrest was concentrated in the soul.

...if anyone who speaks up to criticise something obviously evil is punished merely for speaking, civilisation will be in a bad way.

If I feel like giving something to you and you feel like taking it, I should give and you should take. It's as simple as that.If you humbly say 'No', next time I will offer you something without intention of giving it expecting a humble 'No' from you. We human beings have become so 'civilised' that our words and intentions have stopped matching.

All we know about the new economic world tells us that nations which train engineers will prevail over those which train lawyers. No nation has ever sued its way to greatness.

People often judge the level of a civilization by the amount of paper it uses. That, however, is simply a matter of volume, not quality. Quality is how the heart and soul of a civilization should be measured. How can bad paper and high civilization possibly be bedmates?

But a generation that knows only how to travel — can they teach a generation how to arrive?

And ... and what is civilisation if it isn’t people talking to each other over a goddamned beer?