WIST Quotations

Twain, Mark -- Story (1905-02-02), “The Czar’s Soliloquy,” North American Review, Vol. 180, No. 580 (1905-03)

Dave — Fri, 08 May 2026 20:18:49 +0000

A strange thing, when one considers it: to wit, the world applies to Czar and System the same moral axioms that have vogue and acceptance in civilized countries! Because, in civilized countries, it is wrong to remove oppressors otherwise than by process of law, it is held that the same rule applies in Russia, where there is no such thing as law — except for our Family. Laws are merely restraints — they have no other function. In civilized countries they restrain all persons, and restrain them all alike, which is fair and righteous; but in Russia such laws as exist make an exception — our Family. We do as we please; we have done as we pleased for centuries. Our common trade has been crime, our common pastime murder, our common beverage blood — the blood of the nation. Upon our heads lie millions of murders. Yet the pious moralist says it is a crime to assassinate us. We and our uncles are a family of cobras set over a hundred and forty million rabbits, whom we torture and murder and feed upon all our days; yet the moralist urges that to kill us is a crime, not a duty.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Story (1905-02-02), “The Czar’s Soliloquy,” North American Review, Vol. 180, No. 580 (1905-03)
(Source)

Meant to be the musings of Czar Alexander III, whom Twain detested, about the morality of assassinating people such as himself.

Hugo, Victor -- Letter (1862-10-18) to M. Daelli [tr. Wraxall (1862)

Dave — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:56:14 +0000

At the hour of civilization through which we are now passing, and which is still so sombre, the miserable’s name is MAN; he is agonizing in all climes, and he is groaning in all languages.

[À l’heure, si sombre encore, de la civilisation où nous sommes, le misérable s’appelle L’HOMME; il agonise sous tous les climats, et il gémit dans toutes les langues.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Letter (1862-10-18) to M. Daelli [tr. Wraxall (1862)
(Source)

(Source (French)). Daeli was the publisher of the Italian translation of Les Misérables.

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado

Dave — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 18:16:14 +0000

In this world we never will be perfectly civilized as long as a gallows casts its shadow upon the earth. As long as there is a penitentiary, within the walls of which a human being is immured, we are not a perfectly civilized people. We shall never be perfectly civilized until we do away with crime.
And yet, according to this Christian religion, God is to have an eternal penitentiary; he is to be an everlasting jailer, an everlasting turnkey, a warden of an infinite dungeon, and he is going to keep prisoners there forever, not for the purpose of reforming them — because they are never going to get any better, only worse — but for the purpose of purposeless punishment. And for what? For something they failed to believe in this world. Born in ignorance, supported by poverty, caught in the snares of temptation, deformed by toil, stupefied by want — and yet held responsible through the countless ages of eternity! No man can think of a greater horror; no man can dream of a greater absurdity.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado
(Source)

Published as its own book in 1884.

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Column (1951-12-20), “My Day”

Dave — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:43:54 +0000

As long as we are not actually destroyed, we can work to gain greater understanding of other peoples and to try to present to the peoples of the world the values of our own beliefs. We can do this by demonstrating our conviction that human life is worth preserving and that we are willing to help others to enjoy benefits of our civilization just as we have enjoyed it. (20 December 1961)

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1951-12-20), “My Day”
(Source)

Hugo, Victor -- Poem (1876), “The Vanished City [La Ville Disparue],” Legend of the Ages: New Series [La Légende des siècles: La Nouvelle Série], No. 4 (1877) [tr. Carrington (1885)]

Dave — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 18:59:37 +0000

For, to make deserts, God, who rules mankind,
Begins with kings, and ends the work by wind.

[Car pour faire un désert, Dieu, maître des vivants,
Commence par les rois et finit par les vents.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Poem (1876), “The Vanished City [La Ville Disparue],” Legend of the Ages: New Series [La Légende des siècles: La Nouvelle Série], No. 4 (1877) [tr. Carrington (1885)]
(Source)

(Source (French))

Orwell, George -- Essay (1941-02-19), “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius,” Part 1 “England Your England,” sec. 1, The Searchlight Books [ed. Fyvel and Orwell]

Dave — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 16:15:07 +0000

As I write, highly civilised human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.
They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are “only doing their duty”, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life. On the other hand, if one of them succeeds in blowing me to pieces with a well-placed bomb, he will never sleep any the worse for it. He is serving his country, which has the power to absolve him from evil.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-02-19), “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius,” Part 1 “England Your England,” sec. 1, The Searchlight Books [ed. Fyvel and Orwell]
(Source)

Part of Part 1, "England Your England" with the title "The Ruling Class" was previously published in Horizon (1940-12).

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1753-06-26), The Adventurer, No. 67

Dave — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 23:53:08 +0000

Happiness is enjoyed only in proportion as it is known; and such is the state or folly of man, that it is known only by experience of its contrary: we who have long lived amidst the conveniencies of a town immensely populous, have scarce an idea of a place where desire cannot be gratified by money. In order to have a just sense of this artificial plenty, it is necessary to have passed some time in a distant colony, or those parts of our island which are thinly inhabited: he that has once known how many trades every man in such situations is compelled to exercise, with how much labour the products of nature must be accommodated to human use, how long the loss or defect of any common utensil must be endured, or by what awkward expedients it must be supplied, how far men may wander with money in their hands before any can sell them what they wish to buy, will know how to rate at its proper value the plenty and ease of a great city.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1753-06-26), The Adventurer, No. 67
(Source)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 3, New Road (1943-06)

Dave — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 16:32:43 +0000

One of the effects of safe and civilized life is an immense oversensitiveness which makes all the primary emotions seem somewhat disgusting. Generosity is as painful as meanness, gratitude as hateful as ingratitude.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 3, New Road (1943-06)
(Source)

Martin, Judith -- “Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1981-04-11)

Dave — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:15:12 +0000

You, sir, are an anarchist, and Miss Manners is frightened to have anything to do with you.
It is true that questioning the table manners of others is rude. But to overthrow the accepted conventions of society, on the flimsy grounds that you have found them silly, inefficient and discomforting, is a dangerous step toward destroying civilization.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1981-04-11)
(Source)

Mocking people who make a huge fuss when correcting someone on how they are misusing their fork at the table.

Collected in Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 3 "Basic Civilization," "Table Manners" (1983).

Horace -- Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 10 “To Aristius Fuscus,” l. 24ff (1.10.24-25) (20 BC) [tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]

Dave — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:47:37 +0000

You may drive out Nature with a pitchfork, yet she will ever hurry back, and, ere you know it, will burst through your foolish contempt in triumph.

[Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret,
Et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia victrix.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 10 “To Aristius Fuscus,” l. 24ff (1.10.24-25) (20 BC) [tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]
(Source)

Horace trying to persuade his citified friend Aristius that a more natural setting in the countryside is better.

Variants of "expellas furca" (driving with a pitchfork) were a common Roman expression.

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

The citizens thinkes nature base, and arte is their desier.
Tushe, expulse nature with a forke yet she will still retire,
But chefely, if that she be euill she tarries then no space,
The victris hath a swifte recourse by stealthe unto her place.
[tr. Drant (1567)]

Drive Nature with a Pitch-fork out, shee'l back
Victorious (spite of State) by'a secret Track.
[tr. R. F.; ed. Brome (1666)]

Strive to expel strong Nature, 'tis in vain,
With doubled force she will return again,
And conquering rise above the proud disdain.
[tr. Creech (1684)]

For Nature, driven out with proud disdain,
All-powerful goddess, will return again;
Return in silent triumph, to deride
the weak attempts of luxury and pride.
[tr. Francis (1747)]

Thus, chase her out of doors -- do what you will --
Nature renews the charge and triumphs still;
spurs the weak barriers which caprice would lay
Athwart her course, and boldly bursts her way.
[tr. Howes (1845)]

You may drive out nature with a fork, yet still she will return, and, insensibly victorious, will break through [men’s] improper disgusts.
[tr. Smart/Buckley 1853)]

Drive Nature forth by force, she'll turn and rout
The false refinements that would keep her out.
[tr. Conington (1874)]

Turn Nature, neck-and-shoulders, out of door.
She'll find her way to where she was before;
And imperceptibly in time subdue
Wealth's sickly fancies, and her tastes untrue.
[tr. Martin (1881)]

You shall expel nature with a fork, yet will it always return and, by imperceptibly breaking through injurous aversions, show itself the conquerer.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]

Drive Nature out with a pitchfork. She'll be back again.
She'll outwit and break through absurd contempt! She will win!
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]

Thrust nature out with a pitchfork -- she'll come back,
and gradually she'll win, breaking through your fancy fakes.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]

Push out Nature with a pitchfork, she’ll always come back,
And our stupid contempt somehow falls on its face before her.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]

Drive Nature out with a pitchfork, she'll come right back,
Victorious over your ignorant confident scorn.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]

Expel nature with a fork; she’ll keep on trotting back.
Relax -- and she'll break triumphantly through your silly refinements.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]

Drive Nature off with a pitchfork, she’ll still press back,
And secretly burst in triumph through your sad disdain.
[tr. Kline (2015)]

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1859-09-30), Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee

Dave — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 20:59:06 +0000

To correct the evils, great and small, which spring from want of sympathy, and from positive enmity, among strangers, as nations, or as individuals, is one of the highest functions of civilization.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1859-09-30), Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee
(Source)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1877-06-23), “The Ghosts,” Carson Theater, Carson City, Nevada

Dave — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 21:36:45 +0000

Religion has not civilized man — man has civilized religion. God improves as man advances.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1877-06-23), “The Ghosts,” Carson Theater, Carson City, Nevada
(Source)

Collected in The Ghosts, and Other Lectures (1878)

Martin, Judith -- Miss Manners’ Guide to Rearing Perfect Children, ch. 1 “Theory and Skills,” “For Auditors” (1984)

Dave — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 16:27:42 +0000

Only when the temporarily able-bodied come to accept disabilities as a common human condition will we have a truly civilized society.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Miss Manners’ Guide to Rearing Perfect Children, ch. 1 “Theory and Skills,” “For Auditors” (1984)
(Source)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1816-01-06) to Charles Yancey

Dave — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 18:38:30 +0000

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1816-01-06) to Charles Yancey
(Source)

The original, non-orthographic version of this reads:

if a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was & never will be. the functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty & property of their constituents. there is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.

There is a spurious variant on part of this quotation that reads:

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.

While the first sentence (as above) is legitimate, the second is not. It appears to be a paraphrase of Jefferson used by Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1938-06-30), National Education Association, World’s Fair, New York City

Dave — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 23:55:49 +0000

When the clock of civilization can be turned back by burning libraries, by exiling scientists, artists, musicians, writers and teachers, by dispersing universities, and by censoring news and literature and art, an added burden is placed upon those countries where the torch of free thought and free learning still burns bright.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1938-06-30), National Education Association, World’s Fair, New York City
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Edinburgh Review, No. 65, Article 3 (1820-01)

Dave — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 22:30:33 +0000

In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to American physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? Or what old ones have they advanced? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? Who drinks out of American glasses? Or eats from American plates? Or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture?

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Edinburgh Review, No. 65, Article 3 (1820-01)
(Source)

Review of Adam Seybert, Statistical Annals of the United States of America (1818).

Carlyle, Thomas -- “The State of German Literature,” Edinburgh Review No. 92, Art. 2 (1827-10)

Dave — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 22:12:53 +0000

… [T]he three great elements of modern civilization, Gunpowder, Printing, and the Protestant Religion ….

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“The State of German Literature,” Edinburgh Review No. 92, Art. 2 (1827-10)
(Source)

A review of Franz Horn's The Poetry and Oratory of the Germans, from Luther's Time to the Present (1822-1824), and Outlines for the History and Criticism of Polite Literature in German, 1790-1818 (1819).

Collected in Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1827-1855).

Martin, Judith -- Common Courtesy, “In the Quest for Equality, Civilization Itself Is Maligned” (1985)

Dave — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 16:12:27 +0000

The charge is often made against etiquette that it is artificial. Yes, indeed, it is. Civilization is artificial. When people extoll the virtues of naturalness, honesty, informality, intimacy, and creativity — watch out. Honesty has come to mean the privilege of insulting you to your face without expecting redress, and creativity that it is wrong to interfere with a child who is destroying your possessions. It is apparently natural behavior to treat the sick, the disabled, and the bereaved with curiosity and distaste, but it is also highly uncivilized.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Common Courtesy, “In the Quest for Equality, Civilization Itself Is Maligned” (1985)
(Source)

Originally published in The New Republic in 1984.

Le Guin, Ursula K. -- The Left Hand of Darkness, ch. 8 (1969)

Dave — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 14:36:17 +0000

Primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing. If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of these two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both.

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) American writer
The Left Hand of Darkness, ch. 8 (1969)
(Source)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1935-01-20), “Weekly Article”

Dave — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 15:19:36 +0000

Civilization has taught us to eat with a fork, but even now if nobody is around we use our fingers.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1935-01-20), “Weekly Article”
(Source)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1923-11-28), “Weekly Article: ‘The World Tomorrow’ (After the Manner of Great Journalists)”

Dave — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 15:14:41 +0000

We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1923-11-28), “Weekly Article: ‘The World Tomorrow’ (After the Manner of Great Journalists)”
(Source)

Collected in The Illiterate Digest (1924).

Mencken, H. L. -- A Little Book in C Major, ch. 2, § 2 (1916)

Dave — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 15:46:54 +0000

Civilization is a concerted effort to remedy the blunders and check the practical joking of the Creator.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
A Little Book in C Major, ch. 2, § 2 (1916)
(Source)

Variant:

CIVILIZATION. A concerted effort to remedy the blunders and check the practical joking of God.
[A Book of Burlesques, "The Jazz Webster" (1924)]

Lebowitz, Fran -- “Things,” Social Studies (1981)

Dave — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 19:10:53 +0000

Now, nature, as I am only too well aware, has her enthusiasts, but on the whole, I am not to be counted among them. To put it rather bluntly, I am not the type who wants to go back to the land; I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
“Things,” Social Studies (1981)
(Source)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1929-07-15), “Daily Telegram”

Dave — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 17:27:14 +0000

When the judgment day comes, civilization will have an alibi: “I never took a human life, I only sold the fellow the gun to take it with.”

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1929-07-15), “Daily Telegram”
(Source)

Sagan, Carl -- Cosmos, ch. 11 “The Persistence of Memory” (1980)

Dave — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 19:10:27 +0000

I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture, and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.

Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer
Cosmos, ch. 11 “The Persistence of Memory” (1980)
(Source)

Howard, Robert E. -- Letter to Harold Preece (early 1928)

Dave — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 15:23:31 +0000

Break the skin of civilization and you find the ape, roaring and red-handed.

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) American author
Letter to Harold Preece (early 1928)
(Source)

Einstein, Albert -- Letter to Heinrich Zangger (6 Dec 1917), in Collected Papers, Vol. 8, # 403 (1987) [tr. Hentschel]

Dave — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 15:25:23 +0000

All of our exalted technological progress, civilization for that matter, is comparable to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
Letter to Heinrich Zangger (6 Dec 1917), in Collected Papers, Vol. 8, # 403 (1987) [tr. Hentschel]
(Source)

Von Clausewitz, Karl -- On War [Vom Kriege], Book 1, ch. 1 “What Is War? [Was ist der Krieg?],” § 3 (1.1.3) (1832) [tr. Howard & Paret (1976)]

Dave — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 17:17:20 +0000

The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing practical to alter or deflect the impulse to destroy the enemy, which is central to the very idea of war.

[Die Erfindung des Pulvers, die immer weiter gehende Ausbildung des Feuergewehrs zeigen schon hinreichend, dase die in dem Begriff des Krieges liegende Tendenz zur Vernichtung des Gegners auch faktisch durch die zunehmende Bildung keineswegs gestört oder abgelenkt worden ist.]

Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) Prussian soldier, historian, military theorist
On War [Vom Kriege], Book 1, ch. 1 “What Is War? [Was ist der Krieg?],” § 3 (1.1.3) (1832) [tr. Howard & Paret (1976)]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translations:

The invention of gunpowder, the constant progress of improvements in the construction of firearms are sufficient proofs that the tendency to destroy the adversary which lies at the bottom of the conception of war, is in no way changed or modified through the progress of civilisation.
[tr. Graham (1873)]

The invention of gunpowder and the advances continually being made in the development of firearms, in themselves show clearly enough that the demand for the destruction of the enemy, inherent in the theoretical conception of war, has been in no way actually weakened or diverted by the advance of civilization
[tr. Jolles (1943)]

Clark, Kenneth -- Civilisation, A Personal View, ch. 13 “Heroic Materialism” (1969)

Dave — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 17:36:14 +0000

We are so much accustomed to the humanitarian outlook that we forget how little it counted in earlier ages of civilisation. Ask any decent person in England or America what he thinks matters most in human conduct: five to one his answer will be “kindness.” It’s not a word that would have crossed the lips of any of the earlier heroes of this series. If you had asked St. Francis what mattered in life, he would, we know, have answered “chastity, obedience and poverty”; if you had asked Dante or Michelangelo, they might have answered “disdain of baseness and injustice”; if you had asked Goethe, he would have said “to live in the whole and the beautiful.” But kindness, never. Our ancestors didn’t use the word, and they did not greatly value the quality — except perhaps insofar as they valued compassion.

Kenneth Clark (1903-1983) British art historian, museum director, broadcaster
Civilisation, A Personal View, ch. 13 “Heroic Materialism” (1969)
(Source)

Clark, Kenneth -- Civilisation, A Personal View, ch. 1 “The Skin of Our Teeth” (1969)

Dave — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 21:12:27 +0000

People sometimes tell me that they prefer barbarism to civilisation. I doubt if they have given it a long enough trial. Like the people of Alexandria, they are bored by civilisation; but all the evidence suggests that the boredom of barbarism is infinitely greater. Quite apart from the discomforts and privations, there was no escape from it.

Kenneth Clark (1903-1983) British art historian, museum director, broadcaster
Civilisation, A Personal View, ch. 1 “The Skin of Our Teeth” (1969)
(Source)

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith -- The Napoleon of Notting Hill, Book 1, ch. 2 (1904)

Dave — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 14:22:48 +0000

Many clever men like you have trusted to civilization. Many clever Babylonians, many clever Egyptians, many clever men at the end of Rome. Can you tell me, in a world that is flagrant with the failures of civilisation, what there is particularly immortal about yours?

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
The Napoleon of Notting Hill, Book 1, ch. 2 (1904)
(Source)

Benjamin, Walter -- “Theses on the Philosophy of History [On the Concept of History; Über den Begriff der Geschichte]”, Thesis 7 (1940) [tr. Zohn (1973)]

Dave — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 20:22:04 +0000

There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.

[Es ist niemals ein Dokument der Kultur, ohne zugleich ein solches der Barbarei zu sein.]

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, essayist.
“Theses on the Philosophy of History [On the Concept of History; Über den Begriff der Geschichte]”, Thesis 7 (1940) [tr. Zohn (1973)]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translation:

There has never been a document of culture, which is not simultaneously one of barbarism.
[tr. Redmond (2001)]

Snow, C. P. -- A Coat of Varnish, ch. 4 [Luria] (1979)

Dave — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 20:11:00 +0000

Civilization is hideously fragile, you know that; there’s not much between us and the horrors underneath. Just about a coat of varnish, wouldn’t you say?

C. P. Snow (1905-1980) English novelist, physical chemist, bureaucrat [Charles Percy Snow]
A Coat of Varnish, ch. 4 [Luria] (1979)
(Source)

Rand, Ayn -- The Fountainhead, ch. 18 [Roark] (1943)

Dave — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 19:32:20 +0000

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Russian-American writer, philosopher
The Fountainhead, ch. 18 [Roark] (1943)
(Source)

Porter, Katherine Anne -- Ship of Fools, Part 2 [Hansen] (1962)

Dave — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 19:11:11 +0000

Civilization, let me tell you what it is. First the soldier, then the merchant, then the priest, then the lawyer. The merchant hires the soldier and priest to conquer the country for him. First the soldier, he is a murderer; then the priest, he is a liar; then the merchant, he is a thief; and they all bring in the lawyer to make their laws and defend their deeds, and there you have your civilization!

Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) American journalist, essayist, author, political activist [b. Callie Russell Porter]
Ship of Fools, Part 2 [Hansen] (1962)
(Source)

Hamilton, Edith -- The Greek Way, ch. 6 (1930)

Dave — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 19:37:59 +0000

Civilization, a much abused word, stands for a high matter quite apart from telephones and electric lights. It is a matter of imponderables, of delight in the things of the mind, of love of beauty, of honor, grace, courtesy, delicate feeling.

Edith Hamilton (1867-1963) American educator, author, classicist
The Greek Way, ch. 6 (1930)
(Source)

Clark, Kenneth -- Civilization: A Personal View, ch. 13 “Heroic Materialism” (1969)

Dave — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 18:15:05 +0000

It is lack of confidence, more than anything else, that kills a civilization. We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs.

Kenneth Clark (1903-1983) British art historian, museum director, broadcaster
Civilization: A Personal View, ch. 13 “Heroic Materialism” (1969)
(Source)

McCloy, Helen -- A Question of Time, ch. 6 (1971)

Dave — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 00:41:11 +0000

Civilization is a fiction which becomes a fact only as long as everyone can believe in it. It is the cynic, rather than the rebel, who pulls down the whole flimsy structure periodically throughout history.

Helen McCloy (1904-1994) American writer [pseud. Helen Clarkson]
A Question of Time, ch. 6 (1971)
(Source)

See Clark.

MacInnes, Helen -- The Venetian Affair, ch. 11 [Fenner] (1963)

Dave — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 17:30:58 +0000

Civilization is a perishable commodity.

Helen MacInnes (1907-1985) Scottish-American writer
The Venetian Affair, ch. 11 [Fenner] (1963)
(Source)

Lovecraft, H. P. -- “At the Root,” The United Amateur (Jul 1918)

Dave — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 19:05:19 +0000

We must realize that man’s nature will remain the same so long as he remains man; that civilization is but a slight coverlet beneath which the dominant beast sleeps lightly and ever ready to awake.

H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) American fabulist [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
“At the Root,” The United Amateur (Jul 1918)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Interview, Washington Post (14 Nov 1880)

Dave — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 19:20:52 +0000

After all, the true civilization is where every man gives to every other, every right that he claims for himself.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Interview, Washington Post (14 Nov 1880)
(Source)

Reprinted in The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 8 "Interviews" (1900).

Buchan, John -- The Power-House, ch. 3 (1916)

Dave — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 20:47:12 +0000

You think that a wall as solid as the earth separates civilization from barbarism. I tell you the division is a thread, a sheet of glass. A touch here, a push there, and you bring back the reign of Saturn.

John Buchan (1875-1940) Scottish novelist, poet, and politician; Governor-General of Canada (1935 -1940)
The Power-House, ch. 3 (1916)
(Source)

Addams, Jane -- “Aspects of the Woman’s Movement,” Survey (Aug 1930)

Dave — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 14:45:12 +0000

Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men.

Jane Addams (1860-1935) American reformer, suffragist, philosopher, author
“Aspects of the Woman’s Movement,” Survey (Aug 1930)
(Source)

Reprinted in The Second Twenty Years at Hull-House, ch. 4 "Aspects of the Woman's Movement" (1930)

Diamond, Jared -- “The Ends of the World as We Know Them,” New York Times (1 Jan 2005)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 17:16:25 +0000

Why weren’t these problems obvious to the Maya kings, who could surely see their forests vanishing and their hills becoming eroded? Part of the reason was that the kings were able to insulate themselves from problems afflicting the rest of society. By extracting wealth from commoners, they could remain well fed while everyone else was slowly starving. What’s more, the kings were occupied with their own power struggles. They had to concentrate on fighting one another and keeping up their images through ostentatious displays of wealth. By insulating themselves in the short run from the problems of society, the elite merely bought themselves the privilege of being among the last to starve.

Jared Diamond (b. 1937) American geographer, historian, ornithologist, author
“The Ends of the World as We Know Them,” New York Times (1 Jan 2005)
(Source)

Diamond, Jared -- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Part 4, ch. 16 (2005)

Dave — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 16:29:13 +0000

In fact, one of the main lesson to be learned from the collapses of the Maya, Anasazi, Easter Islanders, and those other past societies (as well as from the recent collapse of the Soviet Union) is that a society’s steep decline may begin only a decade or two after the society reaches its peak numbers, wealth, and power. […] The reason is simple: maximum population, wealth, resource consumption, and waste production mean maximum environmental impact, approaching the limit where impact outstrips resources. On reflection, it’s no surprise that declines of societies tend to follow swiftly on their peaks.

Jared Diamond (b. 1937) American geographer, historian, ornithologist, author
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Part 4, ch. 16 (2005)
(Source)

Serling, Rod -- Letter to Playboy Magazine (Jun 1966)

Dave — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 15:32:03 +0000

There is a breed of lay and social scientist who will forever cling to a concept of “defeating by ignoring.” Hence, when out of the muck of their own neuroses rise these self-proclaimed Fuhrers, there is this well-meaning body who tell us that if we turn both eyes and cheeks, the nutsies will disappear simply by lack of exposure.

My guess is that, in this case, exposure is tantamount to education; and education here, is a most salutary instruction into the mentalities, the motives and the modus operandi of an animal pack that is discounted by the aged maxim that “it can’t happen here.” So might have said the Goethes and the Einsteins of a pre-war Germany, who thought then, as we do now, that civilization by itself protects against a public acceptance of the uncivilized.

What is desperately needed to combat any ism is precisely what “Playboy” has given us — an interview in-depth that shows us the facets of the enemy. Yes, gentlemen, you may be knocked for supposedly lending some kind of credence to a brand of lunacy. But my guess is that you should be given a commendation for a public service of infinite value.

Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
Letter to Playboy Magazine (Jun 1966)
(Source)

Addressing criticism of the magazine for running in April 1966 an Alex Haley interview of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell. Quoted in Anne Serling, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling (2013).

Frye, Northrop -- The Educated Imagination, Talk 6 “The Vocation of Eloquence” (1963)

Dave — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 17:18:40 +0000

There’s something in all of us that wants to drift toward a mob, where we can all say the same thing without having to think about it, because everybody is all alike except people that we can hate or persecute. Every time we use words, we’re either fighting against this tendency or giving in to it. When we fight against it, we’re taking the side of genuine and permanent human civilization.

Northrop Frye (1912-1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist
The Educated Imagination, Talk 6 “The Vocation of Eloquence” (1963)
(Source)

Zelazny, Roger -- Nine Princes in Amber, ch. 3 (1977)

Dave — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 15:46:46 +0000

Besides, I like libraries. It makes me feel comfortable and secure to have walls of words, beautiful and wise, all around me. I always feel better when I can see that there is something to hold back the shadows.

Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) American writer
Nine Princes in Amber, ch. 3 (1977)
(Source)

Hightower, Cullen -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 16:51:43 +0000

After our ages-long journey from savagery to civility, let’s hope we haven’t bought a round-trip ticket.

Cullen Hightower (1923-2008) American writer, aphorist, salesman.
(Attributed)

Attributed in Forbes magazine (29 Mar 1993).

Hayes, Helen -- Loving Life (1987) [with Marion Glasserow Gladney]

Dave — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:02:47 +0000

Civilization will cease without civility.

Helen Hayes (1900-1993) American actress
Loving Life (1987) [with Marion Glasserow Gladney]

Golding, William -- “Lord of the Flies as Fable,” Lecture, UCLA (1962)

Dave — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 17:38:25 +0000

I had discovered what one man could do to another. I am not talking about one man killing another with a gun, or dropping a bomb on him or blowing him up or torpedoing him. I am thinking of the vileness beyond all words that went on, year after year, in the totalitarian states. It is bad enough to say that so many Jews were exterminated in this way and that, so many people liquidated — lovely, elegant word — but there were things done during that period from which I still have to avert my mind lest I should be physically sick. They were not done by the headhunters of New Guinea, or by some primitive tribe in the Amazon. They were done, skilfully, coldly, by educated men, doctors, lawyers, by men with a tradition of civilization behind them, to beings of their own kind. I must say that anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey must have been blind or wrong in the head.

William Golding (1911-1983) British novelist, playwright, poet
“Lord of the Flies as Fable,” Lecture, UCLA (1962)
(Source)

Reprinted in The Hot Gates (1965).

Lippmann, Walter -- A Preface to Politics, ch. 9 “Revolution and Culture” (1913)

Dave — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 18:59:08 +0000

Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.

Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
A Preface to Politics, ch. 9 “Revolution and Culture” (1913)
(Source)

Bevan, Nye -- In Place of Fear (1952)

Dave — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 18:27:11 +0000

No society can legitimately call itself civilized if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.

Aneurin "Nye" Bevan (1897-1960) Welsh politician
In Place of Fear (1952)

Bevan was the key politician responsible for the 1946 founding of the UK's National Health Service.

Butler, Octavia -- Parable of the Sower, ch. 10 (1993)

Dave — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 15:56:15 +0000

Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation.

Octavia Butler (1947-2006) American writer
Parable of the Sower, ch. 10 (1993)
(Source)

Sophocles -- Antigone, l. 354ff, Stasimon 1, Strophe 2 [Chorus] (441 BC) [tr. Kitto (1962)]

Dave — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 17:27:40 +0000

And speech he has learned, and thought
So swift, and the temper of mind
To dwell within cities, and not to lie bare
Amid the keen, biting frosts
Or cower beneath pelting rain;
Full of resource against all that comes to him
is Man. Against Death alone
He is left with no defence.

[καὶ φθέγμα καὶ ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα καὶ ἀστυνόμους
ὀργὰς ἐδιδάξατο καὶ δυσαύλων
πάγων ὑπαίθρεια καὶ δύσομβρα φεύγειν βέλη
παντοπόρος: ἄπορος ἐπ᾽ οὐδὲν ἔρχεται
τὸ μέλλον: Ἅιδα μόνον φεῦξιν οὐκ ἐπάξεται.]

Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Antigone, l. 354ff, Stasimon 1, Strophe 2 [Chorus] (441 BC) [tr. Kitto (1962)]
(Source)

Original Greek. Alternate translations:

Language and lofty thought,
And dispositions meet for order'd cities,
These he hath taught himself; -- and how to shun
The shafts of comfortless winter, --
Both those which smite when the sky is clear,
And those which fall in showers; --
with plans for all things,
Planless in nothing, meets he the future!
Of death alone the avoidance
No foreign aid will bring.
[tr. Donaldson (1848)]

Speech and the wind-swift speed of counsel and civic wit,
He hath learnt for himself all these; and the arrowy rain to fly
And the nipping airs that freeze, 'neath the open winter sky.
He hath provision for all: fell plague he hath learnt to endure;
Safe whate'er may befall: yet for death he hath found no cure.
[tr. Storr (1859)]

Wise utterance and wind-swift thought, and city-moulding mind,
And shelter from the clear-eyed power of biting frost,
He hath taught him, and to shun the sharp, roof-penetrating rain, --
Full of resource, without device he meets no coming time;
From Death alone he shall not find reprieve;
No league may gain him that relief.
[tr. Campbell (1873)]

Speech and thought fast as the wind and the moods that give order to a city he has taught himself, and how to flee the arrows of the inhospitable frost under clear skies and the arrows of the storming rain. He has resource for everything. Lacking resource in nothing he strides towards what must come. From Death alone he shall procure no escape.
[tr. Jebb (1891)]

And speech, and wind-swift thought, and all the moods that mould a state, hath he taught himself; and how to flee the arrows of the frost, when 'tis hard lodging under the clear sky, and the arrows of the rushing rain; yea, he hath resource for all; without resource he meets nothing that must come: only against Death shall he call for aid in vain.
[tr. Jebb (1917)]

Words also, and thought as rapid as air,
He fashions to his good use; statecraft is his,
And his the skill that deflects the arrows of snow,
The spears of winter rain: from every wind
He has made himself secure -- from all but one:
In the late wind of death he cannot stand.
[tr. Fitts/Fitzgerald (1939)]

The use of language, the wind-swift motion of brain
He learnt; found out the laws of living together
In cities, building him shelter against the rain
And wintry weather.
There is nothing beyond his power. His subtlety
Meeteth all chance, all danger conquereth.
For every ill he hath found its remedy,
Save only death.
[tr. Watling (1947), l. 295ff]

Language, and thought like the wind
and the feelings that make the town,
he has taught himself, and shelter against the cold,
refuge from rain. He can always help himself.
He faces no future helpless. There's only death
that he cannot find an escape from.
[tr. Wyckoff (1954)]

And speech and thought, quick as the wind
and the mood and mind for law that rules the city --
all these he has taught himself
and shelter from the arrows of the frost
when there's rough lodging under the cold clear sky
and the shafts of lashing rain --
ready, resourceful man!
Never without resources
never an impasse as he marches on the future --
only Death, from Death alone he will find no rescue.
[tr. Fagles (1982)]

Language and a mind swift as the wind
For making plans --
These he has taught himself --
And the character to live in cities under law.
He's learned to take cover from a frost
And escape sharp arrows of sleet.
He has the means to handle every need,
Never steps toward the future without the means.
Except for Death: He's got no relief from that.
[tr. Woodruff (2001)]

Both language and thought swift as wind
and impulses that govern cities,
he has taught himself, as well as how
to escape the shafts of rain
while encamped beneath open skies.
All resourceful, he approaches no future thing
to come without resource. From Hades alone
he will not contrive escape.
[tr. Tyrell/Bennett (2002)]

And man has learnt speech and thought, swifter than the wind he mastered
And learnt to govern his cities well
And this omniscient being has learnt how to avoid the blasts of the wild open air: the arrows of the freezing night, the dreadful wind driven piercing gale!
He’s prepared for all events bar Death and from Death he can find no escape.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

He’s taught himself speech and wind-swift thought,
trained his feelings for communal civic life,
learning to escape the icy shafts of frost,
volleys of pelting rain in winter storms,
the harsh life lived under the open sky.
That’s man -- so resourceful in all he does.
There’s no event his skill cannot confront --
other than death -- that alone he cannot shun.
[tr. Johnston (2005), l. 405ff]

He taught himself language and wind-like thought and city-ruling urges, how to flee the slings of frost under winter's clear sky and the arrows of stormy rain, ever-resourceful. Against no possibility is he at a loss. For death alone he finds no aid.
[tr. Thomas (2005)]

Arendt, Hannah -- Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books

Dave — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:23:11 +0000

Man’s urge for change and his need for stability have always balanced and checked each other, and our current vocabulary, which distinguishes between two factions, the progressives and the conservatives, indicates a state of affairs in which this balance has been thrown out of order. No civilization — the man-made artifact to house successive generations — would ever have been possible without a framework of stability, to provide the wherein for the flux of change.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books
(Source)

Revised and collected in Crises of the Republic, "On Violence" (1972).

Tyson, Neil deGrasse -- Twitter (19 Apr 2020)

Dave — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 15:20:13 +0000

If a predatory enemy to our species can’t unite everyone on Earth to fight it, I’m left wondering what hope remains for Civilization.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (b. 1958) American astrophysicist, author, orator
Twitter (19 Apr 2020)
(Source)

Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Benedict, Ruth -- Patterns of Culture, ch. 8 “The Individual and Culture” (1934)

Dave — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 20:51:00 +0000

Society in its full sense […] is never an entity separable from the individuals who compose it. No individual can arrive even at the threshold of his potentialities without a culture in which he participates. Conversely, no civilization has in it any element which in the last analysis is not the contribution of an individual.

Ruth Benedict (1887-1947) American anthropologist
Patterns of Culture, ch. 8 “The Individual and Culture” (1934)
(Source)

Sometimes quoted as "The community is never an entity ...."

Macdonell, John -- Historical Trials, ch. 7 (1927)

Dave — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 23:53:57 +0000

There is no accepted test of civilization. It is not wealth, or the degree of comfort, or the average duration of life, or the increase of knowledge. All such tests would be disputed. In default of any other measure, may it not be suggested that as good a measure as any is the degree to which justice is carried out, the degree to which men are sensitive as to wrong-doing and desirous to right it? If that be the test, a trial such as that of Servetus is a trial of the people among whom it takes place, and his condemnation is theirs also.

John Macdonell (1846-1921) British jurist
Historical Trials, ch. 7 (1927)
(Source)

John Calvin ordered Michael Servetus be imprisoned for heresy in Geneva; he was tried, then burned at the stake in 1553.

Forster, E. M. -- Letter to Malcolm Darling (6 Nov 1914)

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:45:18 +0000

The newspapers still talk about glory but the average man, thank God, has got rid of that illusion. It is a damned bore, with a stalemate as the most probable outcome, but one has to see it through, and see it through with the knowledge that whichever side wins, civilisation in Europe will be pipped for the next 30 years. Don’t indulge in Romance here, Malcolm, or suppose that an era of jolly little nationalities is dawning. We shall be much too much occupied with pestilence and poverty to reconstruct.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
Letter to Malcolm Darling (6 Nov 1914)
(Source)

Forster, E. M. -- “The Unsung Virtue of Tolerance,” radio broadcast (Jul 1941)

Dave — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 18:05:46 +0000

The world is very full of people — appallingly full; it has never been so full before — and they are all tumbling over each other. Most of these people one doesn’t know and some of them one doesn’t like; doesn’t like the colour of their skins, say, or the shapes of their noses, or the way they blow them or don’t blow them, or the way they talk, or their smell or their clothes, or their fondness for jazz or their dislike of jazz, and so on. Well, what is one to do?

There are two solutions. One of them is the Nazi solution. If you don’t like people, kill them, banish them, segregate them, and then strut up and down proclaiming that you are the salt of the earth.

The other way is much less thrilling, but it is on the whole the way of the democracies, and I prefer it. If you don’t like people, put up with them as well as you can. Don’t try to love them; you can’t, you’ll only strain yourself. But try to tolerate them. On the basis of that tolerance a civilised future may be built.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
“The Unsung Virtue of Tolerance,” radio broadcast (Jul 1941)
(Source)

Published as "Tolerance," Two Cheers for Democracy (1951)

Wells, H.G. -- The Outline of History, Vol. 2, ch. 41, sec. 4 (1921)

Dave — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 21:05:50 +0000

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

H. G. Wells (1866-1946) British writer [Herbert George Wells]
The Outline of History, Vol. 2, ch. 41, sec. 4 (1921)
(Source)

Also attributed to Wells: "Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have."

Forster, E. M. -- “What I Believe,” The Nation (16 Jul 1938)

Dave — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:48:48 +0000

I realize that all society rests upon force. But all the great creative actions, all the decent human relations, occur during the intervals when force has not managed to come to the front. These intervals are what matter. I want them to be as frequent and as lengthy as possible, and I call them “civilization”.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
“What I Believe,” The Nation (16 Jul 1938)
(Source)

Tuchman, Barbara -- Essay (1979-12-30), “Papyrus to Paperbacks: The World That Books Made,” Washington Post

Dave — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 02:55:37 +0000

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.

Barbara W. Tuchman (1912-1989) American historian and author
Essay (1979-12-30), “Papyrus to Paperbacks: The World That Books Made,” Washington Post
(Source)

Welles, Orson -- Interview with David Frost, David Frost Show (12 May 1970)

Dave — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 01:22:12 +0000

If there hadn’t been women we’d still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends.

Orson Welles (1915-1985) American writer, director, actor
Interview with David Frost, David Frost Show (12 May 1970)
(Source)

Niebuhr, Reinhold -- “Christian Faith and the World Crisis,” Christianity and Crisis (10 Feb 1941)

Dave — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 17:17:54 +0000

[T]here are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) American theologian and clergyman
“Christian Faith and the World Crisis,” Christianity and Crisis (10 Feb 1941)

Mencken, H. L. -- “Homo Neandertalensis,” Baltimore Evening Sun (29 Jun 1925)

Dave — Mon, 08 May 2017 21:48:44 +0000

It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone — that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. The men of the educated minority, no doubt, know more than their predecessors, and some of them, perhaps, it may be said that they are more civilized — though I should not like to be put to giving names — but the great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“Homo Neandertalensis,” Baltimore Evening Sun (29 Jun 1925)
(Source)

Repplier, Agnes -- “A Question of Politeness,” Americans and Others (1912)

Dave — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 22:35:19 +0000

For to be civilized is to be incapable of giving unnecessary offense, it is to have some quality of consideration for all who cross our path.

Agnes Repplier (1855-1950) American writer
“A Question of Politeness,” Americans and Others (1912)
(Source)

Mencken, H. L. -- “What I Believe,” sec. 4, Forum and Century (Sep 1930)

Dave — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 00:30:18 +0000

Men become civilized not in proportion to their willingness to believe but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“What I Believe,” sec. 4, Forum and Century (Sep 1930)
(Source)

Durant, William James -- The Lessons of History, ch. 13 “Is Progress Real?” (1968) [with Ariel Durant]

Dave — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 17:35:28 +0000

Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again.

William James (Will) Durant (1885-1981) American historian, teacher, philosopher
The Lessons of History, ch. 13 “Is Progress Real?” (1968) [with Ariel Durant]
(Source)

George, Henry -- Progress and Poverty, “How Modern Civilization May Decline” (1879)

Dave — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 16:00:20 +0000

What has destroyed every previous civilization has been the tendency to the unequal distribution of wealth and power. This same tendency, operating with increasing force, is observable in our civilization to-day, showing itself in every progressive community, and with greater intensity the more progressive the community. Wages and interest tend constantly to fall, rent to rise, the rich to become very much richer, the poor to become more helpless and hopeless, and the middle class to be swept away.

Henry George (1839-1897) American economist
Progress and Poverty, “How Modern Civilization May Decline” (1879)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1816-01-06) to Charles Yancey

Dave — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 22:37:19 +0000

If a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was & never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty & property of their constituents. there is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1816-01-06) to Charles Yancey
(Source)

Durant, William James -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 15:37:39 +0000

Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos.

William James (Will) Durant (1885-1981) American historian, teacher, philosopher
(Attributed)

Durant, William James -- The Story of Civilization, Vol. 3: Caesar and Christ (1944)

Dave — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:11:34 +0000

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.

William James (Will) Durant (1885-1981) American historian, teacher, philosopher
The Story of Civilization, Vol. 3: Caesar and Christ (1944)
(Source)

Connolly, Cyril -- The Unquiet Grave (1944)

Dave — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 20:07:30 +0000

The civilized are those who get more out of life than the uncivilized, and for this the uncivilized have not forgiven them.

Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
The Unquiet Grave (1944)

Connolly, Cyril -- The Unquiet Grave (1944)

Dave — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 16:41:12 +0000

The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence, — luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition, — are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.

Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
The Unquiet Grave (1944)

Buck, Pearl S. -- My Several Worlds, Part 4 (1954)

Dave — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 21:28:47 +0000

Yet somehow our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American writer
My Several Worlds, Part 4 (1954)
(Source)

See Dostoyevsky, Johnson.

Bancroft, George -- Speech, Adelphi Society, Liamstown College (Aug 1835)

Dave — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 22:30:31 +0000

The exact measure of the progress of civilization is the degree in which the intelligence of the common mind has prevailed over wealth and brute force.

George Bancroft (1800-1891) American historian, statesman, education reformer
Speech, Adelphi Society, Liamstown College (Aug 1835)

Knox, Ronald -- Let Dons Delight, ch. 8 (1939)

Dave — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 19:04:06 +0000

It is stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil, when he is the only explanation of it.

Ronald Knox (1888-1957) English priest, theologian, author, broadcaster
Let Dons Delight, ch. 8 (1939)

Agar, Herbert -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 06:13:40 +0000

Every civilization rests on a set of promises: moral promises about how to behave toward each other, physical promises about how to use our economic system. If the promises are broken too often, the civilization dies, no matter how rich it may be, or how mechanically clever. Hope and faith depend upon promises; if hope and faith go, everything goes.

Herbert Agar (1897-1980) American journalist and historian
(Attributed)

Carriger, Gail -- Heartless (2011)

Dave — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 00:56:24 +0000

As with most things in life, Lady Maccon preferred the civilized exterior to the dark underbelly (with the exception of pork products, of course).

Gail Carriger (b. 1976) American archaeologist, author [pen name of Tofa Borregaard]
Heartless (2011)

Addams, Jane -- Newer Ideals of Peace, “Utilization of Women in City Government” (1907)

Dave — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 02:24:56 +0000

A city is in many respects a great business corporation, but in other respects it is enlarged housekeeping. … May we not say that city housekeeping has failed partly because women, the traditional housekeepers, have not been consulted as to its multiform activities?

Jane Addams (1860-1935) American reformer, suffragist, philosopher, author
Newer Ideals of Peace, “Utilization of Women in City Government” (1907)

Erasmus, Desiderius -- The Adages, “Make Haste Slowly [Festina Lente]” (1508 ed.)

Dave — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 03:12:03 +0000

Consider as well that, however one may sing the praises of those who by their virtue either defend or increase the glory of their country, their actions only affect worldly prosperity, and within narrow limits. But the man who sets fallen learning on its feet (and this is almost more difficult than to originate it in the first place) is building up a sacred and immortal thing, and serving not one province alone but all peoples and all generations. Once this was the task of princes, and it was the greatest glory of Ptolemy. But his library was contained between the narrow walls of its own house, and Aldus is building up a library which has no other limits than the world itself.

Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1536) Dutch humanist philosopher and scholar
The Adages, “Make Haste Slowly [Festina Lente]” (1508 ed.)
(Source)

Discussing the Aldine Press, the first modern publishing house. In Margaret Mann Phillips, ed., Erasmus on His Times (1967).

Day, Clarence -- The Story of the Yale University Press, ch. 2 (1920)

Dave — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 18:04:04 +0000

The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; and, after an era of darkness, new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again, and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men’s hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead.

Clarence Day (1874-1935) American author and cartoonist
The Story of the Yale University Press, ch. 2 (1920)
(Source)

Howard, Robert E. -- Letter to H. P. Lovecraft (5 Dec 1935)

Dave — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 13:17:32 +0000

You express amazement at my statement that “civilized” men try to justify their looting, butchering and plundering by claiming that these things are done in the interests of art, progress and culture. That this simple statement of fact should cause surprise, amazes me in return. People claiming to possess superior civilization have always veneered their rapaciousness by such claims […] Your friend Mussolini is a striking modern-day example. In that speech of his I heard translated he spoke feelingly of the expansion of civilization. From time to time he has announced; “The sword and civilization go hand in hand!” “Wherever the Italian flag waves it will be as a symbol of civilization!” “Africa must be brought into civilization!” It is not, of course, because of any selfish motive that he has invaded a helpless country, bombing, burning and gassing both combatants and non-combatants by the thousands. Oh, no, according to his own assertions it is all in the interests of art, culture and progress, just as the German war-lords were determined to confer the advantages of Teutonic Kultur on a benighted world, by fire and lead and steel. Civilized nations never, never have selfish motives for butchering, raping and looting; only horrid barbarians have those.

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) American author
Letter to H. P. Lovecraft (5 Dec 1935)

Howard, Robert E. -- “The Tower of the Elephant” (1933)

Dave — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 17:11:14 +0000

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) American author
“The Tower of the Elephant” (1933)

Serling, Rod -- The Twilight Zone, 3×03 “The Shelter” (29 Sep 1961)

Dave — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 18:02:25 +0000

NARRATOR: No moral. No message. No prophetic tract. Just a simple statement of fact: for civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized. Tonight’s very small exercise in logic from the Twilight Zone.

Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
The Twilight Zone, 3×03 “The Shelter” (29 Sep 1961)

Bierce, Ambrose -- San Francisco News-Letter, “Town Crier” column (c. 1870)

Dave — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 19:03:31 +0000

The fact that boys are allowed to exist at all is evidence of remarkable Christian forbearance among men — were it not for a mawkish humanitarianism, coupled with imperfect digestive powers, we should devour our young, as Nature intended.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
San Francisco News-Letter, “Town Crier” column (c. 1870)

Tacitus -- Agricola, Book 1, para. 21 (AD 98) [tr. Church and Brodribb]

Dave — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 12:07:15 +0000

Step by step they were led to things which dispose to vice: the lounge, the bath, the elegant banquet. All this in their ignorance they called civilisation, when it was but a part of their servitude.

[Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset.]

Tacitus (c.56-c.120) Roman historian, orator, politician [Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]
Agricola, Book 1, para. 21 (AD 98) [tr. Church and Brodribb]

Alt. trans.: "Because they didn't know better, they called it 'civilization,' when it was part of their slavery."

Tuchman, Barbara -- “The Book,” Lecture, Library of Congress (1979-10-17)

Dave — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 12:37:07 +0000

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature, dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. The are engines of change (as the poet said), windows on the world, and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.

Barbara W. Tuchman (1912-1989) American historian and author
“The Book,” Lecture, Library of Congress (1979-10-17)
(Source)

Reprinted in Authors' League Bulletin (1979-11/12) and as "Papyrus to Paperbacks: The World That Books Made," Washington Post (1979-12-30).

Kennedy, John F. -- Speech, Amherst College (26 Oct 1963)

Dave — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 18:34:51 +0000

I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well. And I look forward to a world which will be safe not only for democracy and diversity but also for personal distinction.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
Speech, Amherst College (26 Oct 1963)

Gaiman, Neil -- Neverwhere, ch. 4 (1996)

Dave — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 12:45:25 +0000

Richard was not dead. He was sitting in the dark, on a ledge, on the side of a storm drain, wondering what to do, wondering how much further out of his league he could possibly get. His life so far, he decided, had prepared him perfectly for a job in Securities, for shopping at the supermarket, for watching soccer on the television on the weekends, for turning up the thermostat if he got cold. It had magnificently failed to prepare him for a life as an un-person on the roofs and in the sewers of London, for a life in the cold and the wet and the dark.

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Neverwhere, ch. 4 (1996)
(Source)

The above is the original US edition language. The 2006 "Author's Preferred Text" edition restores (even in the US) a few British turns of phrase that were in the original British edition (which I am fortunate enough to own).

Richard was not dead. He was sitting in the dark, on a ledge, on the side of a storm drain, wondering what to do, wondering how much further out of his depth he could possibly get. His life so far, he decided, had prepared him perfectly for a job in Securities, for shopping at the supermarket, for watching football on the telly on the weekends, for turning on a heater if he got cold. It had magnificently failed to prepare him for a life as an un-person on the roofs and in the sewers of London, for a life in the cold and the wet and the dark.

Einstein, Albert -- “Einstein at 70,” interview by Alfred Werner, Liberal Judaism (April-May 1949)

Dave — Tue, 20 May 2014 12:54:47 +0000

I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth — rocks!

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Einstein at 70,” interview by Alfred Werner, Liberal Judaism (April-May 1949)

For more information on this citation, and on earlier variants of this quote, see The Futuristic Weapons of WW3 Are Unknown, But WW4 Will Be Fought With Stones and Spears – Quote Investigator®.

King, Martin Luther -- Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? ch. 5 “Where We Are Going?” (1967)

Dave — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:15:16 +0000

The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? ch. 5 “Where We Are Going?” (1967)
(Source)

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:55:08 +0000

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russian novelist
(Attributed)

Sometimes cited to Dostoyevsky's The House of the Dead (1862) [tr. Garnett (1957)], which is a semi-autobiographical work about a Siberian prison camp, but the quotation cannot be found there.

See also Buck, Johnson.

Einstein, Albert -- “A Reply to the Soviet Scientists” (Dec 1947), Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (Feb 1948)

Dave — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:45:49 +0000

Any government is in itself an evil insofar as it carries within it the tendency to deteriorate into tyranny. However, except for a very small number of anarchists, everyone of us is convinced that civilized society cannot exist without a government.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“A Reply to the Soviet Scientists” (Dec 1947), Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (Feb 1948)
(Source)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. -- Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas v. Collector of Internal Revenue, 275 U.S. 87, 100 (1927) [Dissent]

Dave — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:39:41 +0000

Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) American jurist, Supreme Court Justice
Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas v. Collector of Internal Revenue, 275 U.S. 87, 100 (1927) [Dissent]
(Source)

Full text is "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society, including the chance to insure.

References are also found (without citation) to a 1904 speech, "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society" (this variation is quoted by the IRS above the entrance of their headquarters). Bartlett's (1980) cites the above wording, but incorrectly claims it was in 1904.

In Felix Frankfurter, Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court (1938), Holmes is quoted as rebuking a secretary's query about hating to pay taxes: "No, young feller. I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization."

More information here.

Johnson, Samuel -- Comment (1770)

Dave — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:07:29 +0000

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1770)
(Source)

Quoted by Rev. Dr. Maxwell. In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).

See Dostoyevsky, Buck.

Ellis, Havelock -- “The Individual and the Race,” Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)

Dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:00:16 +0000

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."

Adams, Douglas -- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 3rd” (BBC Radio) (1978-03-22)

Dave — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:52:15 +0000

NARRATOR: For instance, on the planet Earth Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much … the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 3rd” (BBC Radio) (1978-03-22)
(Source)

This is rendered the same (save for some punctuation polishing) in the novel form, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy No. 1, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 23 (1979):

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons.

Einstein, Albert -- “What Life Means to Einstein,” Interview with G. Viereck, Saturday Evening Post (26 Oct 1929)

Dave — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:43:43 +0000

Practically, I am, nevertheless, compelled to act as if freedom of the will existed. If I wish to live in a civilized community, I must act as if man is a responsible being. I know that philosophically a murderer is not responsible for his crime; nevertheless, I must protect myself from unpleasant contacts. I may consider him guiltless, but I prefer not to take tea with him.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“What Life Means to Einstein,” Interview with G. Viereck, Saturday Evening Post (26 Oct 1929)
(Source)

Edited as "I am compelled to act as if free will existed, because if I wish to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly. I know that philosophically a murderer is not responsible for his crime, but I prefer not to take tea with him," in Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (1930).

Rickover, Hyman -- Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California

Dave — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:59:47 +0000

To doubt one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man. Don’t defend past actions; what is right today may be wrong tomorrow. Don’t be consistent; consistency is the refuge of fools.

Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) Polish-American naval engineer, admiral [b. Chaim Gdala Rykower]
Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
(Source)

Rogers, Will -- Inscription, Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, Clinton, Oklahoma

Dave — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:29:10 +0000

We are here just for a spell and then pass on … So get a few laughs and do the best you can. Live your life so that whenever you lose, you are ahead.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Inscription, Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, Clinton, Oklahoma

This appears to be condensed form of one of his Weekly Article columns (1931-06-28), collected in Donald Day (ed.), The Autobiography of Will Rogers, ch. 16 (1948), where he responds to Will Durant's request to him (and others) to write about his Philosophy of Life (emphasis mine):

What all of us know put together dont mean anything. Nothing dont mean anything. We are just here for a spell and pass on. Any man that thinks that Civilization has advanced is an egotist. Fords and bathtubs have moved you and cleaned you, but you was just as ignorant when you got there. We know lots of things we used to dident know but we dont know any way to prevent em happening. Confucius perspired out more knowledge than the U.S. Senate has vocalized out in the last 50 years.
We have got more tooth paste on the market, and more misery in our Courts than at any time in our existence. There aint nothing to life but satisfaction. If you want to ship off fat beef cattle at the end of their existence, you got to have em satisfied on the range. Indians and primitive races were the highest civilized, because they were more satisfied, and they depended less on each other, and took less from each other. We couldent live a day without depending on everybody. So our civilization has given us no Liberty or Independence.
Suppose the other Guy quits feeding us. The whole thing is a "Racket," so get a few laughs, do the best you can, take nothing serious, for nothing is certainly depending on this generation. Each one lives in spite of the previous one and not because of it. And dont start “seeking knowledge” for the more you seek the nearer the “Booby Hatch” you get. And dont have an ideal to work for. Thats like riding towards a Mirage of a lake. When you get there it aint there. Believe in something for another World, but dont be too set on what it is, and then you wont start out that life with a disappointment. Live your life so that whenever you lose, you are ahead.

Burke, Edmund -- “Reflections on the Revolution in France” (1790)

Dave — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:29:40 +0000

Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
“Reflections on the Revolution in France” (1790)
(Source)

Durant, William James -- Quoted in Jim Hicks, “Spry Old Team Does It Again,” Life (18 Oct 1963)

Dave — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 01:49:21 +0000

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry, and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.

William James (Will) Durant (1885-1981) American historian, teacher, philosopher
Quoted in Jim Hicks, “Spry Old Team Does It Again,” Life (18 Oct 1963)
(Source)

Durant says this is what he came up with when asked to sum up civilization in a half-hour ("I did it in less than a minute, this way").

This source is Durant recounting the passage in a Life magazine interview, which is often mis-cited as the origin. The quote is also sometimes vaguely attributed to his and Ariel Durant's The Story of Civilization, their 11-volume work (1935-75) (the Life article was on the publication of Vol. 8, The Age of Louis XIV (1963)), but I cannot find it in any of the volumes to that date.

Rogers, Will -- Column (1929-12-23), “Daily Telegram: Will Rogers Has An Idea About Disarmament Plans”

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

You can’t say civilization don’t advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1929-12-23), “Daily Telegram: Will Rogers Has An Idea About Disarmament Plans”
(Source)

Russell, Bertrand -- “The Triumph of Stupidity,” New York American (1933-05-10)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Brute force plays a much larger part in the government of the world than it did before 1914, and what is especially alarming, force tends increasingly to fall into the hands of those who are enemies of civilization. The danger is profound and terrible; it cannot be waved aside with easy optimism. The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“The Triumph of Stupidity,” New York American (1933-05-10)
(Source)

Often paraphrased, "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure, and the intelligent are full of doubt." See also Yeats and Bukowski.

More examination of this quotation: The Best Lack All Conviction While the Worst Are Full of Passionate Intensity – Quote Investigator.

Martin, Judith -- “Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1978-04-23)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

We are all born charming, frank, and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1978-04-23)
(Source)

Reprinted in Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 2 "Basic Civilization," "Concerning Children" (1983).