Civilised Quotes - Page 4

• Architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and poetry, may truly be called the efflorescence of civilised life.

  Herbert Spencer

  Sculpture, May, Architecture

  Herbert Spencer (2012). “Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects Everyman's Library”, p.73, tredition

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• Intellectuals never sound more foolish than when posing as the last civilised man.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Men, Sound, Lasts

  Christopher Hitchens (2002). “Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere”, p.268, Verso

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• It is time to remind Sharon that the star of David belongs to all Jews, not to his repulsive Government. His actions are staining the star of David with blood. The Jewish people, whose gifts to civilised discourse include Einstein and Epstein, Mendelssohn and Mahler, Sergei Eisenstein and Billy Wilder, are now symbolised throughout the world by the blustering bully Ariel Sharon, a war criminal implicated in the murder of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila camps and now involved in killing Palestinians once again.

  Gerald Kaufman

  Stars, War, Government

  Speech to the House of Commons, April 2002.

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• Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It has its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished. The mutual dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all the parts of civilised community upon each other, create that great chain of connection which holds it together.

  Thomas Paine

  Men, Order, Community

  Thomas Paine (2015). “The Thomas Paine Collection: Common Sense, Rights of Man, Age of Reason, An Essay on Dream, Biblical Blasphemy, Examination Of The Prophecies”, p.131, Ravenio Books

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• Around it are those countries which, according to History, constitute the civilised world ie, a world that can support historians

  Terry Pratchett

  Country, History, Support

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• Even today to be civilised is held to be synonymous with being westernised. Advanced countries devote large resources to formulating and spreading ideas and doctrines and they tend to impose on the developing nations their own norms and methods. The pattern of the classical acquisitive society with its deliberate multiplication of wants not only is unsuited to conditions in our countries but is positively harmful.

  Indira Gandhi

  Country, Ideas, Doctrine

  Indira Gandhi (1971). “Selected Speeches of Indira Gandhi: The years of challenge, January 1966-August 1969”

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• I am a very, very strong advocate of the notion that we shouldn't equate the arts with other aspects of infrastructure. They have a unique role in any civilised society and that requires appropriate and targeted government support.

  George Brandis

  Art, Strong, Unique

  Source: www.abc.net.au

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• The great works belong to no one nation, no one cultural tradition even. They are universal.I want an Australian vision of arts policy that is expansive, is embracing, is not narrow, is not parochial. For example, that Australians can do Shakespeare just as well as Englishmen can because we, like every civilised nation, partake of the great canonical works. It's not about Australian nationalism; it's about our identity as a culturally ambitious, culturally sophisticated nation.

  George Brandis

  Art, Vision, Ambitious

  Source: www.abc.net.au

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• England is the only civilised country in the world where it is etiquette to fall on the food like a wolf the moment it is served. Elsewhere it is comme il faut to wait until everybody has helped himself to everything and until everything on everybody's plate is stone cold.

  Virginia Graham

  Country, Fall, Waiting

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• When we get civilised, I believe children will go by number until they get old enough to choose their own names.

  Myrtle Reed

  Children, Believe, Names

  Myrtle Reed (1916). “Old Rose and Silver”, p.24, Library of Alexandria

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• In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valour. The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury.

  Edward Gibbon

  Christian, Powerful, Luxury

  Edward Gibbon (1998). “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.3, Wordsworth Editions

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• The Germans, in the age of Tacitus, were unacquainted with the use of letters; and the use of letters is the principal circumstance that distinguishes a civilised people from a herd of savages incapable of knowledge or reflection. Without that artificial help, the human memory soon dissipates or corrupts the ideas intrusted to her charge; and the nobler faculties of the mind, no longer supplied with models or with materials, gradually forget their powers; the judgment becomes feeble and lethargic, the imagination languid or irregular.

  Edward Gibbon

  Memories, Reflection, Ideas

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire”, p.354

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• At the hour of midnight the Salerian gate was silently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet. Eleven hundred and sixty-three years after the foundation of Rome, the Imperial city, which had subdued and civilised so considerable a part of mankind, was delivered to the licentious fury of the tribes of Germany and Scythia.

  Edward Gibbon

  Rome, Years, Cities

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• As a civilised society, we have a duty to support those among us who are vulnerable and in need. When times are hard, that duty should be felt more than ever, not disappear or diminish.

  Justin Welby

  Support, Needs, Vulnerable

  "Archbishop of Canterbury attacks Government welfare reforms" by Edward Malnick, www.telegraph.co.uk. March 9, 2013.

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• That monstrous tuberosity of civilised life, the capital of England.

  Thomas Carlyle

  London, England, Monstrous

  Thomas Carlyle (1831). “Sartor Resartus: The life and opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh in three books: By Thomas Carlyle”, p.167

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• I have a flat in Paris and go there a lot, but the Eurostar's much more civilised than flying.

  Michael Bond

  Paris, Flying, Flats

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• Sex is probably one of the last forms of human expression to enjoy such a direct connection with nature. It might be the primary site of conflict between nature and culture. If one assumes that nature (or instinct) is repressed in a highly civilised society, then I think the conceptual dyad nature-culture is best preserved there, in the realm of sex.

  Thomas Koerfer

  Sex, Thinking, Expression

  Source: www.koerferfilm.com

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• If there was anything any Radchaai considered essential for civilised life, it was tea.

  Ann Leckie

  Tea, Essentials, Ifs

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• To be Radchaai is to be civilised.

  Ann Leckie

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• If you want to be a civilised man, first you have to be a non-violent man! If you want to be a civilised country, first you have to be a non-violent country! Violence is the means of the sick minds; peacefulness is the means of the healthy minds!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Country, Mean, Men

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• With highly civilised nations continued progress depends in a subordinate degree on natural selection; for such nations do not supplant and exterminate one another as do savage tribes.

  Charles Darwin

  Progress, Degrees, Savages

  Charles Darwin (2016). “The Descent of Man (Diversion Classics)”, p.199, Diversion Books

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• Violence is the tool of the barbarian; aggression is the method of the primitive; bloodshed is the way of the savage; cruelty is the manner of the brutish! To be called as a 'civilised,' man must be peaceable!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Men, Savages, Tools

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• You have to protect your food, otherwise someone else takes it! There is no divinity in here! But there is divinity there: In a civilised order where no being has to defend for its food!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Order, Divinity, Protect

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• We are free, we are civilised, to little purpose, if we grudge to any portion of the human race an equal measure of freedom and civilisation.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Race, Purpose, Littles

  "Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches" by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Volume 4, 2007.

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• The foundation for a new era was laid but yesterday. The human was given its first chance to become truly civilised when it took courage to question all things and made 'knowledge and understanding' the foundation upon which to create a more reasonable and sensible society of human beings.

  Hendrik Willem van Loon

  Yesterday, Understanding, Foundation

  Hendrik Willem Van Loon (2016). “The Story of Mankind: Juvenile History”, p.205, VM eBooks

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