Quotes about Civilization

The lunatic's visions of horror are all drawn from the material of daily fact. Our civilization is founded on the shambles, and every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony.

No doubt it was necessary to civilize man in relation to man. That work is already advanced and is making progress every day. But man must be civilized also in relation to nature.

Work is not a curse; it is the prerogative of intelligence, the only means to manhood, and the measure of civilization.

The human animal originally came from out-of-doors. When spring begins to move in his bones, he just must get out again. Moreover, as civilization, cement pavements, office buildings, radios have overwhelmed us, the need for regeneration has increased, and the impulses are even stronger.

The true nature of man left to himself without restraint is not nobility but savagery

Socialism never arises in the earlier phases of capitalism, as, for instance, among the pioneers of civilisation in a country where there is plenty of land available for private appropriation by the last comer.

Money, without brains, always is dangerous. Properly used, it is the most important essential of civilization. The simple breakfast here described could not have been delivered to the New York family at a dime each, or at any other price, if organized capital had not provided the machinery, the ships, the railroads, and the huge armies of trained men to operate them. Some

A nation which expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, expects that which never was and never will be.

New York, like London, seems to be a cloacina [toilet] of all the depravities of human nature.

How many children were alive at the time of the Flood? When a civilization becomes evil, who usually pays the price first? It is the children and babies. How many ancient cultures killed or sacrificed children? Far too many! In the Bible, we find evil people like Pharaoh of Egypt trying to kill baby boys through the midwives when they were born.

The General was right. No one dies of hunger here - you reach out your hand and pluck a mango. That's why there is no progress. Cold countries have more advanced civilizations because the climate forces people to work.

Their most notable defect was that they considered work a virtue, even manual labor. They were materialists, conquerors, and they were infused with a messianic enthusiasm for reforming those who did not think as they did; they did not, however, represent an immediate threat to civilization. No