Civilize Quotes

“Civilize The Mind, But Make Savage The Body.”
― Ancient Chinese Proverb

“If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things Hellenic, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to disseminate and shower the blessings of the Hellenic justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorious Hellenes should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos…”
― Alexander the Great

“At present, a good many men engaged in scientific pursuits, and who have signally failed in gaining recognition among their fellows, are endeavoring to make reputations among the churches by delivering weak and vapid lectures upon the 'harmony of Genesis and Geology.' Like all hypocrites, these men overstate the case to such a degree, and so turn and pervert facts and words that they succeed only in gaining the applause of other hypocrites like themselves. Among the great scientists they are regarded as generals regard sutlers who trade with both armies.

Surely the time must come when the wealth of the world will not be wasted in the propagation of ignorant creeds and miraculous mistakes. The time must come when churches and cathedrals will be dedicated to the use of man; when minister and priest will deem the discoveries of the living of more importance than the errors of the dead; when the truths of Nature will outrank the 'sacred' falsehoods of the past, and when a single fact will outweigh all the miracles of Holy Writ.

Who can over estimate the progress of the world if all the money wasted in superstition could be used to enlighten, elevate and civilize mankind?

When every church becomes a school, every cathedral a university, every clergyman a teacher, and all their hearers brave and honest thinkers, then, and not until then, will the dream of poet, patriot, philanthropist and philosopher, become a real and blessed truth.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll, Some Mistakes of Moses

“We human beings regard ourselves as (or compare ourselves to) animals only when it suits us.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“What is the point of having a civilization, if we do not practice being civilized!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Wise Mating: A Treatise on Monogamy

“Greed is a contagious mental illness without which civilization as we know it would not have been possible.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana, The Use and Misuse of Children

“Death is number one on the list of things that we wish were possible to leave behind when we escaped barbarism.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“As you and I take Personal Responsibility for mending the things that are out of order in our community and nation in general, we would surely witness a transformed, developed and civilized society.”
― Sunday Adelaja

“If a country successfully translate the principles of truth and honesty into their social life, social issues and problems are resolved in a civilized manner.”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Singapore, Switzerland, Austria, and many of the European countries that we all admire today, don’t have one tenth of the natural resources that African countries have. Yet, because of the principles of truth and honesty, they have been able to build some of the most civilized societies in the modern world.”
― Sunday Adelaja