Quotes from Arnold Toynbee

The history of almost every civilization furnishes examples of geographical expansion coinciding with deterioration in quality.

We have been god-like in the planned breeding of our domesticated plants, but rabbit-like in the unplanned breeding of ourselves.

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

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

A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man.

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

I don't believe a committee can write a book. It can, oh, govern a country, perhaps, but I don't believe it can write a book.

The human race's prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenceless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenceless against ourselves.

Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.

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

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

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.

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

We are in the first age since the dawn of civilization in which people have dared to think it practicable to make the benefits of civilization available to the whole human race.

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

Civilization is a movement - not a condition; a voyage - not a harbour.

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

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

As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is our responsibility.