There is something hugely civilised about allowing long pauses in a conversation. Very few people can stand that kind of silence.

The global industrial economy is the engine for massive environmental degradation and massive human (and nonhuman) impoverishment.

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

The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has 'civilized' us in a way that religion and law could never accomplish.

The more civilized people are, the more honorable working hard is to them. As a result, the more civilized we get, the less we live.

a single generation enamoured of foreign ways is almost enough in history to risk the whole continuity of civilization and learning.

If human beings were really progressive creatures, then all boys would be smarter, healthier, and, wealthier, than their grandfathers.

When people stargazing, they stare at stars,and many other things which they've already presumed commonly and universally as stars.

Since the same human mire remains beneath, does not all civilisation reduce itself to the superiority of smelling nice and living well?

And here was the moment. The end of it all, for civilization was merely another name for friendship, and friendship was coming to an end.

What can oppose the decline of the west is not a resurrected culture but the utopia that is silently contained in the image of its decline.

Wherever we look, the work of the chemist has raised the level of our civilization and has increased the productive capacity of our nation.

... civilization—a word that simply means "living in cities..."Excerpt From: Standage, Tom. “A History of the World In 6 Glasses.

Primary purposes of a mirror: (1) To help civilized men realize their imperfections, and, (2) To help the imperfect hide their imperfections.

Where two or more are gathered in the name of Man; that is civilization; that is Order; and that is the beginnings of brutality and suffering.