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Western Civilization Quotes

Browse 217 quotes about Western Civilization.

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Western Civilization Quotes

“Day by day, month by month, doubt by doubt, law and order became fascism; education, constraint; work, alienation; revolution, mere sport; leisure, a privilege of class; marijuana, a harmless weed; family, a stifling hothouse; affluence, oppression; success, a social disease; sex, an innocent pastime; youth, a permanent tribunal; maturity, the new senility; discipline, an attack on personality; Christianity... and the West... and white skin...”

AlienationPolitical CorrectnessWestern CivilizationDecadenceEnd Of CivilizationEuropean CivilizationLeftist Dogmatism
Book:The Camp of the Saints
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“Multiculturalism denies historical and scientific evidence that people differ in important biological and cultural ways that makes their assimilation into host countries problematic. It is also extreme in the viciousness with which it attacks those who differ on this issue. These attacks are accompanied by a very generalized and one-sided denigration of Western traditions and Western accomplishments, and claims that a collective guilt should be assumed by all Europeans (whites) for the sins of their forebears. In the semireligious formulation of this view, expiation of these sins can only come through an absolute benevolence toward the poor of the world whose suffering is claimed to be the result of the white race and its depredations. In practical terms this can only be accomplished through aid to Third World peoples and generous immigration policies that allow large numbers of people to escape the poverty of the Third World.”

ImmigrationMulticulturalismWestern CivilizationWhite RaceCollective Guilt
Book:The Perils of Diversity: Immigration and Human Nature
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“There is a growing sentiment in America today that animals, too, have rights and that we collectively should afford them, at the very least, more respect and consideration as the sentient, autonomous beings they clearly are. Of course, this flies in the face of Western civilization's stated assumption of man's dominion over the beasts. The way we resolve this conflict in our culture, or fail to, has much to do with who we are, who we will become, and the legacy we leave for generations to come.”

LegacyAnimal RightsWestern CivilizationDominionism
Book:Shadow Mountain: A Memoir of Wolves, a Woman, and the Wild
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“We have evidence all around us in our daily analytic practice and in contemporary world history that this earth-shaking archetypal event is taking place here and now. It has already started. It is manifesting itself in international relations; in the breakdown of the social structures of Western civilization; in political, ethnic, and religious groupings; as well as within the psyches of individuals- the momentous event of the coming of the self into conscious realization.”

WorldWellsSelfEarthPoliticalIndividualSocialGrowthReligiousPracticeEventsAcceptanceCivilizationConsciousEvidenceRelationStructureWesternInternationalContemporaryRealizationManifestWorld HistoryHere And NowShakingInternational RelationsBreakdownWestern CivilizationAnalyticsSocial StructurePsych
Author:Edward F Edinger
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“The most outstanding characteristic of Eastern civilization is to know contentment, whereas that of Western civilization is not to know contentment. Contented Easterners are satisfied with their simple life and therefore do not seek to increase their material enjoyment... They are satisfied with their present lot and environment and therefore do not want to conquer nature but merely be at home with nature and at peace with their lot.”

KnowsWantHomeSimpleEnvironmentMaterialsCivilizationIncreaseWesternSatisfiedConquerEnjoymentCharacteristicsContentmentConsumerismEasternOutstandingSimple LifeOverconsumptionWestern Civilization
Author:Hu Shih
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“If they weren't so dangerous and destructive, one could smile and pat the Modern Liberal on the head and tell him how cute he is and go on about the business of being an adult. But he is dangerous and destructive, with the True Believer's very purpose being the total destruction of everything that God and science-most obviously Western Civilization-has ever created. ...The Modern Liberal will invariably and, in fact, inevitably side with evil over good, wrong over right and the behaviors that lead to failure over those that lead to success.”

IfsFactsPurposeEvilSidesModernDangerousGoes OnCivilizationBehaviorAdultsDestructionWesternBelieverCuteDestructiveWestern CivilizationTrue BelieverGod And Science
Author:Evan Sayet
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“Unless we realize that the essence of Nazism is also an attempt to solve a universal problem of Western civilization - that of the industrial society - and that the basic principles on which the Nazis base this attempt are also in no way confined to Germany, we do not know what we fight for or what we fight against... The war is being fought for the structure of industrial society - its basic principles, its purposes, and its institutions.”

KnowsWayWarProblemPurposeFightingRealizingPrinciplesCivilizationEssenceUniversalInstitutionsStructureWesternSolveGermanyNaziConfinedNazismWestern CivilizationBasic Principles
Author:Peter Drucker
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“Everything we did in the 1960s was designed to fission, to weaken faith in and conformity to the 1950s social order. Our precise surgical target was the Judeo-Christian power monolith, which has imposed a guilty, inhibited, grim, anti-body, anti-life repression on Western civilization.”

BodyChristianOrderSocialCivilizationWesternGuiltyTargetConformityPrecise1960sRepressionGrimWestern CivilizationSocial OrderFission
Book:Your Brain Is God
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“The transnational corporations and the money markets have declared the era of human-designed regulations over. Now the market must reign. Because few people in the business community are paid to think about phrases such as "Western civilization," they don't seem to realize that they are proposing the arbitrary denial of 2,500 years of human experience.”

PeopleThinkingYearsHumansSeemsRealizingCommunityCivilizationPaidWesternErasDenialCorporationsPhrasesRegulationReignHuman ExperienceArbitraryWestern CivilizationTransnational Corporations
Author:John Ralston Saul
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“Western civilization presents one of the most difficult tasks for historical analysis, because it is not yet finished, because we are a part of it and lack perspective, and because it presents considerable variation from our pattern of historical change.”

DifficultPerspectiveCivilizationTasksHistoricalWesternPatternsFinishedAnalysisVariationWestern CivilizationDifficult TasksHistorical Change
Book:The evolution of civilizations: an introduction to historical analysis
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“Coca-Cola remains emblematic of the best and worst of America and Western civilization. The history of Coca-Cola is the often funny story of a group of men obsessed with putting a trivial soft drink "within an arm's reach of desire." But at the same time, it is a microcosm of American history. Coca-Cola grew up with the country, shaping and shaped by the times. The drink not only helped to alter consumption patterns, but attitudes toward leisure, work, advertising, sex, family life, and patriotism.”

MenCountryStoriesAmericaDesireSexAttitudeGroupsWorstArmsGrewDrinkCivilizationGrew UpRemainsWesternPatternsAdvertisingObsessedLeisureAmerican HistoryConsumptionFamily LifeWestern CivilizationMicrocosmCoca ColaFunny StorySoft Drinks
Author:Mark Pendergrast
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“While [European] national cultures were concocted to distinguish one economic unit of capital from another, civilizational thinking was invented to unify these cultures against their colonial consequences. Islamic, Indian, or African civilizations were invented contrapuntally by Orientalism... in order to match, balance and thus authenticate 'Western Civilization'.”

ThinkingOrderCultureEconomicBalanceCivilizationConsequenceWesternIndianIslamicUnitsWestern CivilizationOrientalismNational Culture
Author:Hamid Dabashi
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“... All questions concerning the rise of Christianity are one: How was it done? How did a tiny and obscure messianic movement from the edge of the Roman Empire dislodge classical paganism and become the dominant faith of Western civilization? Although this is the only question, it requires many answers - no one thing led to the triumph of Christianity.”

DoneAnswersChristianityOne ThingAtheismMovementCivilizationWesternEdgesPositive AtheismTinyTriumphEmpiresDominantObscurePaganismRoman EmpireWestern Civilization
Book:The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History
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“There are people accusing me that I'm sick, that I'm a danger to morals, western civilization and basically everything under the sun. And they've got these wild stories about me, completely off the wall, completely untrue. They thought them up and it makes you wonder what goes on in their brain, but of course, they don't consider themselves sick. They think they're normal because they don't dress like I do.”

PeopleThinkingStoriesCoursesBrainWonderMoralSunDangerWallGoes OnCivilizationNormalSickDressesWesternUntrueWestern CivilizationAccusingOff The WallAccusing Me
Author:Marilyn Manson
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“The philosophy of love and peace strangely overlooked who was in possession of the guns. There had been love and peace for some time on the continent of Africa because for all this time black men had been captivated by the doctrines of Christianity. It took them centuries to realize its contradictions. ... perhaps there was no greater crime as yet than all the lies Western civilization had told in the name of Jesus Christ.”

MenPhilosophyLyingReligionJesusNamesBlackChristRealizingChristianityGreaterCenturyCrimeCivilizationGunJesus ChristWesternPossessionDoctrineContradictionContinentsOverlookedWestern CivilizationPeace And LoveCaptivatedPhilosophy Love
Author:Bessie Head
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“the present Western civilization ... is dominated by the extravert viewpoint. There are plenty of reasons for this domination: extraverts are more vocal than introverts; they are more numerous, apparently in the ratio of three to one; and they are accessible and understandable, whereas the introverts are not readily understandable, even to each other, and are likely to be thoroughly incomprehensible to the extraverts.”

ReasonThreeCivilizationWesternPlentyIntrovertDominationVocalViewpointsWestern CivilizationRatiosSociability
Book:Gifts differing: understanding personality type
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“They can say that abortion is alright. They can vote to sustain gay marriage. And that will take western civilization, indeed other nations because people look to our country as one nation as under God and whenever we legislate sin and we say abortion is permissible and we say gay unions are permissible, then average citizens who are not Christians, because they don't know better, we are leading them astray and it's wrong.”

PeopleKnowsLooksCountryChristianNationsSinCitizensCivilizationGayVoteUnionsWesternAverageScaryOur CountryAbortionGay MarriageAlrightWestern Civilization
Author:Katherine Harris
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“The time has also come to recognize the painful truth that traditional Judeo-Christian moral values of pain and pleasure in human relationships have contributed substantially to child abuse and to the prevalence of physical violence in Western civilization.... The religious system upon which our culture is based holds that pain, suffering and deprivation are moral and necessary to save one's soul and make one a 'good person.' The crucifixion and scourging of Christ are examples.”

HumansChildrenPersonsSoulChristianPainSufferingValuesCultureChristReligiousPleasureMoralViolenceExampleCivilizationAbuseWesternPainfulScaryTraditionalChild AbuseGood PersonHuman RelationsHuman RelationshipsDeprivationWestern CivilizationCrucifixionPain And PleasureMoral ValuesPhysical ViolencePain SufferingPainful Truth
Author:James W. Prescott
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“For most of Western civilization there was no real division between the realms of science, divinity, and artistic endeavor - they were just three strands of the same braid, all of them pulling toward the same beautiful desire: to try to understand the workings of this curious and beautiful world. There were many people who would have called themselves all three things at once: men of god, men of science, men of the arts.”

PeopleMenWorldTryingArtRealBeautifulDesireThreeCivilizationWesternCuriousArtisticRealmsDivinityDivisionEndeavorPullingThree ThingsWestern CivilizationStrandsBeautiful WorldMan Of GodBraids
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“The people of the United States have been fortunate in many things. One of the things in which we have been most fortunate has been that so far, due perhaps to certain basic virtues in our traditional ways of doing things, we have managed to keep the crisis of western civilization, which has devastated the rest of the world and in which we are as much involved as anybody, more or less at arm's length.”

PeopleWorldWayHas BeensStatesAmericaCertainUnitedUnited StatesVirtueArmsInvolvedCivilizationCrisisWesternDuesTraditionalFortunateIsolationLengthWestern CivilizationDevastated
Author:John Dos Passos
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“I refuse to accept that Western civilization is like some hopeless old version of Microsoft DOS, doomed to freeze, then crash. I still cling to the hope that the United States is the Mac to Europe's PC, and that if one part of the West can successfully update and reboot itself, it's America.”

IfsStillsStatesAmericaUnitedAcceptingUnited StatesCivilizationEuropeWestWesternRefuseVersionsHopelessCrashDoomedMicrosoftFreezeMacsWestern CivilizationUpdates
Author:Niall Ferguson
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“All right, so there he is, our representative to the world, Mr. Western Civilization, in codpiece and pantyhose up there on the boards, firing away at the rapt groundlings with his blank verses, not less of a word-slinger and spellbinder than the Bard himself and therefore not to be considered too curiously on such matters as relevance, coherence, consistency, propriety, sanity, common decency.”

WorldMatterCommonCivilizationWesternBoardsSanityRepresentativesVersesBlankConsistencyDecencyRelevanceWestern CivilizationProprietyFiringCoherenceBardsCommon DecencyPantyhose
Author:Marvin Mudrick
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“When Western civilization invaded the Near and Far East and what is now called the Third World it imposed its own ideas of a proper environment and a rewarding life. Doing this, it disrupted the delicate patterns of adaptation and created problems that had not existed before.”

WorldIdeasProblemEnvironmentCivilizationThirdsWesternPatternsEastDelicateAdaptationThird WorldWestern CivilizationNear And Far
Book:Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction Versus the Richness of Being
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