To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization. — Arnold Toynbee. Topics referred to by the same term
Civilizations in decline are consistently characterised by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity.
America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.
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.