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The origin of civilization is man's determination to do nothing for himself which he can get done for him.—H. C. BAILEY
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Civilization is the upward struggle of mankind, in which millions are trampled to death that thousands may mount on their bodies.—LORD BALFOUR
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No civilization other than that which is Christian, is worth seeking or possessing.—BISMARCK
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It is the task of civilization to raise every citizen above want, but
in so doing to permit a free development and avoid the slavery of the bee-hive and the ant-heap.—JOHN BUCHAN, Memory Hold-The-Door
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Is man's civilization only a wrappage, through which the savage nature of him can still burst, infernal as ever?—CARLYLE, The French Revolution
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There are few words which are used more loosely than the word "Civilization." What does it mean? It means a society based upon the opinion of civilians. It means that violence, the rule of warriors and despotic chiefs, the conditions of camps and warfare, of riot and tyranny, give place to parliaments where laws are made, and independent courts of justice in which over long periods those laws are maintained. That is Civilization—and in its soul grow continually freedom, comfort and culture. When Civilization reigns in any country, a wider and less harassed life is afforded to the masses of the people.—WINSTON CHURCHILL, Blood, Sweat & Tears
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What a time! What a civilization!—CICERO, Catiline
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Consider the cannibal. He used to devour captured warriors instead of broiled chickens. But as he grew civilized he lived on his fellows no more; he cooked other creatures, which he learned in time to make more delicious. A similar step should be taken by some modern cannibals. Men do not eat men but they live on them, they live on their labor, they use them for purposes quite as fatal to their existence.—CLARENCE DAY
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Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.—DISRAELI
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Few nations have been able to reach intellectual refinement and esthetic sensitivity without sacrificing so much in virility and unity that their wealth presents an irresistible temptation to impecunious barbarians. Around every Rome hover the Gauls; around every Athens, some Macedon.—WILL DURANT, The Life of Greece
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Civilizations have died before, but men continued to live, and there arose in turn other civilizations.—IRWIN EDMAN, I Believe
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The world does not come to an end each time an individual dies, nor does it end each time a form of civilization decays.—IRWIN EDMAN, I Believe
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The more rapidly a civilization progresses, the sooner it dies for another to arise in its place.—HAVELOCK ELLIS, The Dance of Life
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If at some period in the course of civilization we seriously find that our science and our religion are antagonistic, then there must be something wrong either with our science or with our religion.—HAVELOCK ELLIS, The Dance of Life
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The true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops, but the kind of man that the country turns out.—EMERSON
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A sufficient and sure method of civilization is the influence of good women.—EMERSON
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The post office, with its educating energy, augmented by cheapness, and guarded by a certain religious sentiment in mankind, so that the power of a wafer, or a drop of wax guards a letter as it flies over sea and land, and bears it to its address as if a battalion of artillery had brought it, I look upon as a first measure of civilization.—EMERSON
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The ultimate tendency of civilization is toward barbarianism.—A. W. & J. C. HARE
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I should hardly like to trust pen and ink with all the audacity of my social ideas; but after fifty years of optimistic contact with 'civilization' and its ability to come out all right in the end, I now abhor it, and feel that it is coming out all wrong in the end, unless it bases itself anew on a real equality.—W. D. HOWELLS, Letter to Henry James
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If civilization is to recreate itself after the war it can only do so on the basis of what, for want of a better word, we must call a social outlook.—JULIAN HUXLEY
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A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.—SAMUEL JOHNSON, Boswell: Life
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Nations, like individuals, live or die but civilization cannot perish.—MAZZINI
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Civilization, indeed, may be defined as a constructive criticism of nature, and Huxley even called it a conspiracy against nature.—H. L. MENCKEN
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Civilization today, such as it is, is not the creation or the monopoly of one people or nation.—JAWAHARLAL NEHRU, India and the World
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The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steed is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only superficial brilliancy.—ANTOINE DE RIVAROL
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Civilization is perhaps approaching one of those long winters that overtake it from time to time. Romantic Christendom—picturesque, passionate, unhappy episode—may be coming to an end. Such a catastrophe would be no reason for despair.—SANTAYANA, Character and Opinion in the United States
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Civilization never looks more lovely than when surrounded by barbarism; and yet, strange to say, barbarism never looks so inviting to me as when I am surrounded by civilization.—H. M. STANLEY
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In order to civilize a people, it is necessary first to fix it, and this can not be done without inducing it to cultivate the soil.—DE TOCQUEVILLE
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All that is best in the civilization of today, is the fruit of Christ's appearance among men.—DANIEL WEBSTER
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Actually, when every man in America owns his own car, every man in America will wish he didn't. America too will have reached the saturation point where modern civilization, which is only another name for materialism, will appear to her as bleak disillusionment. And at that moment her statesmen no doubt will discover that the national honor is insulted or some high principle involved and another war will be in full blast.—I. A. R. WYLIE
