All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
“The Individual and the Race,” Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
(Source)
In a passage describing the cost of population growth under the Biblical commandment of "Be ye fruitful and multiply." The above is only a fraction of the sentence, which reads in full:It has meant that all civilisation has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution, and the human race has gone on lightly dancing there, striving to forget that ancient warning from a soul of things even deeper than the voice of Jehovah: "At the hand of man will I require the life of man."
Quotations by:
Ellis, Havelock
As usual, what we call “Progress” is the exchange of one Nuisance for another Nuisance.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
Fountain of Life: Being the Impressions and Comments of Havelock Ellis, 31 July 1912 (1930)
A man must not swallow more beliefs than he can digest.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
The Dance of Life, ch. 5 “The Art of Religion,” sec. 4 (1923)
(Source)
The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a wilderness.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
The Dance of Life, ch. 5 “The Art of Religion,” sec. 4 (1923)
(Source)
We cannot remain consistent with the world save by growing inconsistent with our past selves.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
The Dance of Life, Preface (1923)
All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
The Open Court (journal), Vol. 39 [ed. Paul Carus] (1925)
Full text.
“Charm” — which means the power to effect work without employing brute force — is indispensable to women. Charm is a woman’s strength just as strength is a man’s charm.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
The Task of Social Hygiene (1912)
There has never been any country at every moment so virtuous and so wise that it has not sometimes needed to be saved from itself.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
The Task of Social Hygiene, ch. 10 (1913)