“Civilization, as we know it, is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“The contact of civilisations has always been, and will always continue to be, a ruling factor in human progress and failure.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“Of the twenty or so civilizations known to modern Western historians, all except our own appear to be dead or moribund, and, when we diagnose each case, in extremis or post mortem, we invariably find that the cause of death has been either War or Class or some, combination of the two.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“Now civilizations, I believe, come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them which they fail to meet.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“I have thought a sufficient measure of civilization is the influence of good women.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“We actually need some tough incentives in civilization to make it work.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source“Intelligence precedes force. Force itself is nothing without intelligence. In the heroic age the leader was the strongest man; with civilization he has become the most intelligent of the brave.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Disputed“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee DisputedHistory Integrity Virtue Politics Women