Civilised Quotes - Page 3

• There is nothing more foreign to a civilised and democratic system than preventive detention.

  Robert Bourassa

  Democratic, Detention

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• Whatever is fine and permanent in human achievement has been realised through individuals courageously facing the circumstances of their being; and a society is civilised to the extent to which it makes this possible. Terrorism, which aims at putting out thespiritual light, is the antithesis of civilisation.

  Malcolm Muggeridge

  Light, Achievement, Society

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• Now that their long war was over, they could get on with the proper concern of all civilised nations, which is to prepare for the next one.

  Terry Pratchett

  War, Long, History

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• You’re talking about Rwanda or Bangladesh, or Cambodia, or the Philippines. They’ve got democracy, according to Freedom House. But have you got a civilised life to lead? People want economic development first and foremost. The leaders may talk something else. You take a poll of any people. What is it they want? The right to write an editorial as you like? They want homes, medicine, jobs, schools.

  Lee Kuan Yew

  Jobs, School, Home

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• In all highly civilised communities Pretence is prominent, and sooner or later invades the regions of Literature.

  James Payn

  Community, Literature, Sooner Or Later

  James Payn (1882). “Sammlung”

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• The English language is like London: proudly barbaric yet deeply civilised, too, common yet royal, vulgar yet processional, sacred yet profane.

  Stephen Fry

  London, Sacred, Royal

  Stephen Fry (2006). “The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within”, p.551, Penguin

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• In itself and in its consequences the life of leisure is beautiful and ennobling in all civilised men's eyes.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Life, Beautiful, Eye

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “THE THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS: An Economic Study of American Institutions and a Social Critique of Conspicuous Consumption: Development of Institutions That Shape Society and Influence the Livelihood of Citizens: Based on Sociological & Economical Theories of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Adam Smith and Herbert Spencer”, p.26, e-artnow

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• We can only truly be civilised people when we have regular and meaningful contact with the wild world

  Simon Barnes

  Meaningful, Nature, People

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• I think you will agree the sign of a civilised society is a regular dining schedule.

  Philippa Ballantine

  Thinking, Dining, Schedules

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• It is the law of love that rules mankind. Had violence, i.e. hate, rules us we would have become extinct long ago. And yet, the tragedy of it is that the so-called civilised men and nations conduct themselves as if the basis of society was violence.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Love, Hate, Men

  Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton (2007). “Gandhi on Non-Violence”, p.59, New Directions Publishing

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• If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other, there would be no sense in preferring civilised morality to savage morality.

  C. S. Lewis

  Ideas, Savages, Would Be

  C. S. Lewis (2009). “Mere Christianity”, p.13, Harper Collins

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• I would like you to teach [the orcs] civilised behaviour," said Ladyship coldly. He appeared to consider this. "Yes of course, I think that would be quite possible," he said. "And who would you send to teach the humans?

  Terry Pratchett

  Thinking, Behaviour, Orcs

  7 Copy quote

• A country is considered the more civilised the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak and a powerful one too powerful.

  Primo Levi

  Country, Powerful, Men

  "If This Is a Man". Book by Primo Levi, 1947.

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• Well, the world is vastly counted in favour of men at every level - except if you live in a civilised country and you’re sort of educated and middle-class, because then you’re almost certainly junior in your relationship and in a state of permanent, crippled apology. Your preferences are routinely mocked. There’s a huge, unfortunate lack of respect for anything male.

  Steven Moffat

  Country, Apology, Men

  4 Copy quote

• Bombing is not especially inhumane. War itself is inhumane and the bombing plane, which is used to paralyse industry and transport, is a relatively civilised weapon. 'Normal' or 'legitimate' warfare is just as destructive of inanimate objects and enormously so of human lives.

  George Orwell

  War, Historical, Inanimate Objects

  George Orwell (2016). “Fifty Essays (George Orwell) (Literary Thoughts Edition)”, p.502, epubli

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• To live his life in his own way, to call his house his castle, to enjoy the fruits of his own labour, to educate his children as his conscience directs, to save for their prosperity after his death -- these are wishes deeply ingrained in civilised man. Their realization is almost as necessary to our virtues as to our happiness. From their total frustration disastrous results both moral and psychological might follow.

  C. S. Lewis

  Wisdom, Children, Men

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• Since the discovery of oxygen the civilised world has undergone a revolution in manners and customs. The knowledge of the composition of the atmosphere, of the solid crust of the earth, of water, and of their influence upon the life of plants and animals, was linked to that discovery. The successful pursuit of innumerable trades and manufactures, the profitable separation of metals from their ores, also stand in the closest connection therewith.

  Justus von Liebig

  Successful, Animal, Discovery

  Justus von Liebig (1859). “Familiar Letters on Chemistry, in its relation to Physiology, Dietetics, Agriculture, Commerce and Political Economy: Edited by John Blyth”, p.5

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• Africa may yet prove to be the spiritual conservatory of the world ... When the civilised nations in consequence of their wonderful material development, shall have had their spiritual susceptibilities blunted through the agency of a captivating and absorbing materialism, it may be that they have to resort to Africa to recover some of the simple elements of faith.

  Edward Wilmot Blyden

  Spiritual, Simple, Agency

  "Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race".

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• Globalisation can provide the route for the development of a sustainable and prosperous planetary society in the next generation, provided that globalisation itself becomes more civilised than it is right now.

  Peter Ellyard

  Next, Generations, Development

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• It is a mark of civilised man that he seeks to understand his traditions, and to criticise them, not to swallow them whole.

  Moses Finley

  Men, History, Tradition

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• This generation may either be the last to exist in any semblance of a civilised world or that it will be the first to have the vision, the bearing and the greatness to say, 'I will have nothing to do with this destruction of life, I will play no part in this devastation of the land, I am determined to live and work for peaceful construction for I am morally responsible for the world of today and the generations of tomorrow.'

  Richard St. Barbe Baker

  Life, Greatness, Land

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• A wasteland is a confrontation to a man of stature: an empty place, a gauntlet thrown down in challenge and defiance. A place like that cries out to be conquered and civilised.

  John C. Wright

  Men, Challenges, Empty Places

  John C. Wright (2012). “The Hermetic Millennia”, p.116, Macmillan

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• The civilised cultures are the most cruel. It's the same with education - often it breeds sadistic forms of cruelty.

  Nellie McKay

  Culture, Sadistic, Form

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• I suffered most inconvenience from the difficulty of getting news from the civilised world down river, from the irregularity of receipt of letters, parcels of books and periodicals, and towards the latter part of my residence from ill health arising from bad and insufficient food.

  Henry Walter Bates

  Book, Rivers, Ill Health

  Henry Walter Bates (1873). “The Naturalist on the River Amazons: A Record of Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature Under the Equator, During Eleven Years of Travel”, p.253

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• Men play at tragedy because they do not believe in the reality of the tragedy which is actually being staged in the civilised world

  Jose Ortega y Gasset

  Believe, Men, Reality

  Jose Ortega Y Gasset (1960). “the Revolt of the Masses”

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