#civilization

(Catholic) monks taught metallurgy, introduced new crops, copied ancient texts, preserved literacy, pioneered in technology, invented champagne, improved the European landscape, provided for wanderers of every stripe, and looked after the lost and shipwrecked. ↗

— Thomas E. Woods Jr.

#civilization #catholicism

Jesuits so dominated the study of earthquakes that seismology became known as 'the Jesuit Science. ↗

— Thomas E. Woods Jr.

#science #seismology #western-civilization #science

Have you noticed how dogs sniff at one another when they meet? It seems to be their nature. - Yes; it's a funny habit. - No, it's not funny; you are wrong there. There's nothing funny in nature, however funny it may seem to man. If dogs could reason and criticize us they'd be sure to find just as much that would be funny to them, if not far more, in the social relations of men, their masters -far more, I think. I am more convinced that there is far more foolishness among us. ↗

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

#nature #society #funny

Everyone is always proclaiming the decline of civilization, but it takes a true prophet to look into his wine glass and embody it. ↗

— Bauvard

#decadence #funny #humor #prophets #funny

There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages. ↗

— Mark Twain

#savages #humor

In the past, humans hesitated when they took lives, even non-human lives. But society had changed, and they no longer felt that way. As humans grew stronger, I think that we became quite arrogant, losing the sorrow of 'we have no other choice.' I think that in the essence of human civilization, we have the desire to become rich without limit, by taking the lives of other creatures. ↗

— Hayao Miyazaki

#choice #creatures #hayao #hayao-miyazaki #human-civilization

‎Civilization has been a continuous struggle of the individual or of groups of individuals against the State and even against "society," that is, against the majority subdued and hypnotized by the State and State worship. ↗

— Emma Goldman

#freedom #government #liberty #society #state

Civilizations grow by agreements and accomodations and accretions, not by repudiations. The rebels and the revolutionaries are only eddies, they keep the stream from getting stagnant but they get swept down and absorbed, they're a side issue. Quiet desperation is another name for the human condition. If revolutionaries would learn that they can't remodel society by day after tomorrow -- haven't the wisdom to and shouldn't be permitted to -- I'd have more respect for them ... Civilizations grow and change and decline -- they aren't remade. ↗

— Wallace Stegner

#civilization #growth #human-condition #humanity #rebellion

The great weakness of the West is that it has nothing with which to inspire loyalty except wealth. But what is wealth? Another washing machine, a bigger car, a nicer house to live in? Not much to feed the spirit in all that. ↗

— John Burdett

#capitalism #economics #politics #western-civilization #inspirational

The writer in western civilization has become not a voice of his tribe, but of his individuality. This is a very narrow-minded situation. ↗

— Aharon Appelfeld

#civilization #his #individuality #narrow-minded #situation