“It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal behind it.”
Arnold J. Toynbee
A Study of History (Primary source)
A Study of History is a monumental multi-volume inquiry into the origins, development, and disintegration of civilizations across the span of human history. Conceived as a comparative study on an exceptionally broad scale, the work examines a wide range of civilizations—including Western, Islamic, Hindu, and East Asian societies—in an effort to discern recurrent patterns in their historical development.
More about “A Study of History” →
“Technology is, of course, only a long Greek name for a bag of tools; and we have to ask ourselves: What are the tools that count in this competition in the use of tools as means to power?”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“Civilization, as we know it, is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“History, in the objective meaning of the word, is the process of change; in the subjective meaning, it is the study of how and why one situation changes into another.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“A life which does not go into action is a failure.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary sourceMore quotes by Arnold J. Toynbee →
“The most effective way to do it is to do it.”
— Amelia Earhart Disputed“Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“It is important to make a dream of life and a dream reality.”
— Marie Curie Disputed“The value of the goal lies in the goal itself; and therefore the goal cannot be attained unless it is pursued for its own sake.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source