Western Civilization Quotes - Page 2

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: this triptych succinctly defines the attractiveness and superiority of Western civilization.

Ibn Warraq

Pursuit Of Happiness, Civilization, Liberty

Ibn Warraq (2013). “Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy”, p.15, Encounter Books

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Because the Western civilization is dominated by dualistic thinking, holistic scientists and philosophers don't get the recognition they deserve.

Satish Kumar

Thinking, Civilization, Recognition

Interview with Frank Lipman, www.drfranklipman.com. April 14, 2009.

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In western civilization, the period ruled by mysticism is known as the 'Dark Ages' and the 'Middle Ages'. I will assume that you know the nature of that period and the state of human existence in those ages. The Renaissance broke the rules of the mystics. "Renaissance" means the "rebirth". Few people today will care to remind you that it was a rebirth of reason - of man's mind.

Ayn Rand

Mean, Dark, Men

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Every great movement in the history of Western civilization from the Carolingian age to the nineteenth century has been an international movement which owed its existence and its development to the cooperation of many different peoples.

Christopher Dawson

Civilization, Age, Movement

Christopher Dawson (1961). “The Crisis of Western Education”, New York : Sheed and Ward

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Egypt gave birth to what later would become known as 'Western Civilization,' long before the greatness of Greece and Rome.

John Henrik Clarke

Greatness, Egypt, Rome

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Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people's hearts. Western civilizations these days place great importance on filling the human brain with knowledge, but no one seems to care about filling the human heart with compassion. This is what the real role of religion is.

Dalai Lama

Inspirational, Real, Heart

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In Western Civilization, our elders are books.

Gary Snyder

Book, Civilization, Western

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No doubt Western civilization has in the past been full of wars and revolutions, and the national elements in our culture, even when they were ignored, always provided an unconscious driving force of passion and aggressive self-assertion

Christopher Dawson

War, Passion, Past

Christopher Dawson (2010). “The Crisis of Western Education (The Works of Christopher Dawson)”, p.94, CUA Press

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This freedom of political discussion on the highest level is something which Western civilization has in common with that of classical antiquity, but with no other

Christopher Dawson

Civilization, Political, Levels

Christopher Dawson (2010). “The Crisis of Western Education (The Works of Christopher Dawson)”, p.95, CUA Press

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So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else available. Western civilization not only provides a bit of life, a pinch of liberty and the occasional pursuance of happiness, it's also the only thing that's ever tried to. Our civilization is the first in history to show even the slightest concern for average, undistinguished, none-too-commendable people like us.

P. J. O'Rourke

Average, Europe, Civilization

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To regret religion is to regret Western civilization.

Theodore Dalrymple

Regret, Civilization, Western

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Unlike most heritages, Western civilization is not primarily a geographical place or a genetic bloodline. It is a state of mind. No matter where on earth one was born, to become heir to Western civilization's ancestry, one need only pledge allegiance to reason and individual liberty-the civilized, life-affirming values that represent the "West at its best."

Terri Runnels

Life, Civilization, Individuality

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This world has seen a great many civilizations. And many of them have survived for longer periods than ours up to the present. They were all as sure as we are today of having founded the first eternal civilization. We today differ from them in having our western civilization spread to embrace the entire planet, leaving no room on any continent for any other culture to take over if we fail.

Thor Heyerdahl

Other Cultures, Civilization, Leaving

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For the first time in its history, Western Civilization is in danger of being destroyed internally by a corrupt, criminal ruling cabal which is centered around the Rockefeller interests, which include elements from the Morgan, Brown, Rothschild, Du Pont, Harriman, Kuhn-Loeb, and other groupings as well. This junta took control of the political, financial, and cultural life of America in the first two decades of the twentieth century.

Carroll Quigley

Civilization, Two, America

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To provide its happy people with perpetual fun is now the deepest purpose of Western civilization.

Jeremy Seabrook

Fun, Civilization, People

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I believe in courtesy. It is the way we avoid hurting people's feelings. She thought that maybe, just maybe, western civilization was in decline because people did not take time to take tea at four o'clock.

E. L. Konigsburg

Hurt, Believe, Civilization

E. L. Konigsburg (1999). “The View from Saturday”, p.125, Simon and Schuster

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And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?" "Bad?" I guessed. "Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus amd Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight." "Bad," I repeated.

Rick Riordan

War, Fighting, Civilization

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Osbert was the only one who didn't seem suspicious. He was so interested in the Decline of Western Civilization that he missed the version of it taking place under his nose.

Meg Rosoff

Civilization, Noses, Decline

Meg Rosoff (2005). “How I Live Now”, p.43, Penguin UK

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There have been five great kisses since 1642 B.C. when Saul and Delilah Korn's inadvertent discovery swept across Western civilization. (Before then couples hooked thumbs.) And the precise rating of kisses is a terribly difficult thing, often leading to great controversy, because although everyone agrees with the formula of affection times purity times intensity times duration, no one has ever been completely satisfied with how much weight each element should receive. But on any system, there are five that everyone agrees deserve full marks. Well, this one left them all behind.

William Goldman

Couple, Kissing, Discovery

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride”, p.48, A&C Black

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I’ve met plenty of embarrassing parents, but Kronos, the evil Titan Lord who wanted to destroy Western Civilization? Not the kind of dad you invited to school for Career Day.

Rick Riordan

Dad, School, Civilization

Rick Riordan (2013). “Demigods and Monsters: Your Favorite Authors on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series”, p.109, BenBella Books, Inc.

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The famous Greek physician Hippocrates administered musical treatments to his patients in 400 B.C. Although this type of treatment did not originate with him, it found in him an exponent of the highest order. With the increasing materialism of Western civilization, the major tenants of ancient musical therapy have been either forgotten or discarded.

Corinne Heline

Inspiration, Order, Civilization

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Somewhere in the world there was a young woman with such splendid understanding that she'd see him entire, like a poem or story, and find his words so valuable after all that when he confessed his apprehensions she would explain why they were in fact the very things that made him precious to her...and to Western Civilization! There was no such girl, the simple truth being.

John Barth

Girl, Simple, Civilization

L. Rust Hills, John Barth (1974). “Writer's choice”, Modern Library

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It is against their own insoluble problem of being human that the dull and base in humanity are in revolt in anti-Semitism. Judaism, nevertheless, together with Hellenism and Christianity is an inalienable component of our Christian Western civilization, the eternal "call to Sinai" against which humanity again and again rebels.

Hermann Rauschning

Christian, Civilization, Humanity

"The Beast From the Abyss". Book by Hermann Rauschning, pp. 155-156, 1941.

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Western civilization was declining too fast for comfort, but too slowly to be very exciting.

Tom Robbins

Civilization, Comfort, Exciting

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A big chunk of Western civilization, consciously or otherwise, has given the impression that it's dying to surrender to somebody, anybody. Reasonably enough, Islam figures: Hey, why not us?

Mark Steyn

Civilization, Islam, Dying

Mark Steyn (2006). “America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It”, p.28, Regnery Publishing

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