"The Story of Civilization" Quotes

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.

The measure of greatness in a scientific idea is the extent to which it stimulates thought and opens up new lines of research.

The influence of the Press is like the drop of a gentle rain; it refreshes and invigorates; but the influence of the motion picture is like the violence of a cloudburst; it devastates and destroys.

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

The first condition of success for the League of Nations is, therefore, a firm understanding between the British Empire and the United States of America and France and Italy that there will be no competitive building up of fleets or armies between them.

The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority.

The conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it.

The family is the nucleus of civilization.

In the end, nothing is lost. Every event, every experience, shapes and influences us, leading us to become the individuals we are meant to be.

The true worth of a civilization lies not in the material wealth it possesses, but in the quality of the individuals it produces.