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Civilizations Quotes

Browse 17 quotes about Civilizations.

Civilizations Quotes

“History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up,' Voltaire reportedly said. The observation refers to the argument that fortunes of nations or civilizations or societies rise and fall based on the character of their people, and this character is heavily influenced by the material and moral condition of their society. The idea was a staple of history writing from ancient Greece until it began to decline in popularity after the middle of the twentieth century.”

CharacterNationsHistoryTough TimesToughnessSocietiesCivilizations
Book:The End is Always Near: Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses
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“We are used to things starting out small and simple and then progressing--evolving--to become ever more complex and sophisticated, so this is naturally what we expect to find on archaeological sites. It upsets our carefully structured ideas of how civilizations should behave, how they should mature and develop, when we are confronted by a case like Göbekli Tepe that starts out perfect at the beginning and then slowly devolves until it is just a pale shadow of its former self.”

SophisticatedComplexDevelopEvolvingArcheologyCivilizationsProgressingGöbekli TepeDevolves
Book:Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth's Lost Civilization
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“The rolling hills we traveled through were lined with rows of crisscrossed crops- apple and pear trees, vines of grapes, and maize- creating bafflingly precise geometries. In the forested areas, the branches on the trees drooped lugubriously like the long sleeves of Druid priests. Jonathan pointed to the curved roads that cut through the hillsides and valleys. "Forged by Romans, Mina!" he said. "So many civilizations have come and gone on this land- Celts, Romans, Normans, Mongols, French. Who knows how many more?”

HillsCropsNatures BeautyAustriaFruit TreesCivilizations
Book:Dracula in Love
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“Gravity and time are local, and they are maintaining the balance in the bubbles. However, anomalies in the local gravity fields and times can destroy complete planetary systems and civilizations.”

TimeGravityAnomaliesLocalCivilizationsBalance In BubblesLocal Gravity FieldsPlanetary Systems
Book:How to Kiss the Universe: An Inspirational Spiritual and Metaphysical Narrative about Human Origin, Essence and Destiny
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“Rich, modern countries have common traits that make them different from poor, traditional countries, which also share common traits. Differences in wealth can lead to conflict between societies, but the evidence suggests that this mainly occurs when rich and powerful societies try to conquer and colonize poor and traditional societies.”

ColonialismWealth GapCivilizationsRich Vs Poor
Book:The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
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“Cultele memoriei de orice natură, indiferent dacă se prezintă ȋn veșminte religioase, civilizatoare sau politice, trebuie privite... cu neȋncredere și asta fără excepție: sub pretextul unei comemorări purificatoare, eliberatoare sau fie și numai fondatoare de identitate, ele dau inevitabil apă la moară unei tendințe ascunse de repetare și repunere ȋn scenă. ... măsurile de stingere sau de domolire a flăcării mocnite cu care ard amintirile suferințelor trebuie să facă parte din regulile de ȋnțelepciune ale oricărei civilizații,”

MemoryCivilizationsMemorieCivilizatii
Book:Zorn und Zeit
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“The only true solutions to complex systemic problems are piecemeal, multi-pronged answers, and they will vary wildly from forest to desert, from city to city, and even between neighborhoods within a single city. Life is messy and civilization even messier. If your answer is ever any less messy, you’re fooling yourself.”

CivilizationComplexityProblem SolvingCivilisationAnswerCivilizationsCivilisationsSystemic ProblemSystemic Problems
Book:The Siege of Skyhold
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“For more than half a century, [...] American archaeology was so riddled with pre-formed opinions about how the past should look, and about the orderly, linear way in which civilizations should evolve, that it repeatedly missed, sidelined, and downright ignored evidence for any human presence at all prior to Clovis--until, at any rate, the mass of that evidence became so overwhelming that it took the existing paradigm by storm.”

HistoryIgnorancePrejudicesArchaeologyDeep Human HistoryCivilizationsSmithsonian Institute
Book:America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization
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