Arnold Toynbee

"In studying the rise and fall of civilizations, we are studying human nature itself."

"The true test of civilization is not the census or the size of cities, but the moral capacity to lead."

"Unless we transmit our values and our understanding to the next generation, we are not truly civilized."

"War is the continuation of policy by other means, but peace is the continuation of war by means of negotiation."

"The future belongs to those who understand the present in the context of the past."

"Civilization is the process of creating increasingly complex networks of mutual obligation."

"One of the greatest tragedies is when a man discovers too late that his life's work was meaningless."

"Technology amplifies both human virtue and human vice."

"The greatest religions have always asked: what should I do? The greatest sciences have asked: what can I do?"

"National pride is to the nation what personal pride is to the individual: a source of both strength and delusion."

"The challenge of the modern world is not survival but meaning."

"In the fullness of time, we shall see that the atomic bomb is a blessing compared to the spiritual poverty it has revealed."

"To understand the present, one must understand the myths by which people live."

"The fate of empires depends upon the quality of their thinking."

"Every revolution carries within itself the seeds of its own counter-revolution."

"Truth is the first casualty in the war between nations."

"The most important historical events are often the least noticed by those who are living through them."

"Humans are not the measure of all things; they are the measure of nothing."

"Progress is not automatic; it is an achievement that must be constantly renewed."

"The bureaucratic mind sees order where there is only complexity."

"To love is to cease thinking about oneself."

"The greatest wisdom is knowing what we do not know."

"A civilization is defined not by its monuments but by the moral questions it wrestles with."

"In the long run, the only power that matters is the power to inspire."

"The past haunts us not because it is past, but because it remains unresolved."

"Materialism is the philosophy of those who have forgotten how to wonder."

"To be human is to carry the weight of all previous generations."

"The most revolutionary act is to think independently."

"History shows that the desire for power is more dangerous than power itself."

"Art is the language of the soul when reason fails."