Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975)

Quotes

• It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.

• Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.

• Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.

• We have been God-like in our planned breeding of our domesticated plants and animals, but we have been rabbit-like in our unplanned breeding of ourselves.

• To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization.

• The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.

• America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.

• Civilizations in decline are consistently characterised by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity.

• History is a vision of God’s creation on the move.

• America is a large friendly dog in a small room. Every time it wags its tail it knocks over a chair.