“Civilization, as we know it, is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.”
Arnold J. Toynbee
Civilization on Trial (Primary source)
Civilization on Trial is a collection of thirteen essays, written over roughly two decades, that Toynbee binds together with a common outlook on the meaning of history. Though several pieces predate it, the book is preoccupied with the post-war moment, examining the moral and spiritual challenges facing humanity and arguing that Western civilization stands at a critical juncture.
More about “Civilization on Trial” →
“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“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“The fact that I am neither a Greek nor a Turk perhaps creates little presumption of my being fair-minded, for Western partisans of non-Western peoples are often more fanatical than their favourites.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“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 Primary sourceMore quotes by Arnold J. Toynbee →
“If you know that this life is all that you have, wouldn’t you make the most of it?”
— Ayn Rand Disputed“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“The years teach much which the days never know.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source