Favorite quotes

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

Education is the transmission of civilization.

One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.

Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.

The health of nations is more important than the wealth of nations.

Most of us spend too much time on the last twenty-four hours and too little on the last six thousand years.

Perhaps our supercilious disgust with existence is a cover for a secret disgust with ourselves; we have botched and bungled our lives, and we cast the blame upon the environment or the world, which have no tongues to utter a defense. The mature man accepts the natural limitations of life; he does not expect Providence to be prejudiced in his favor; he does not ask for loaded dice to play the game of life. He knows, with Carlyle, that there is no sense in vilifying the sun because it will not light our cigars. And perhaps, if we are clever enough to help it, the sun will even do that; and this vast neutral cosmos may turn out to be a pleasant place enough if we bring a little sunshine of our own to help it out. In truth, the world is neither with us or against us; it is but raw material in our hands, and can be heaven or hell according to what we are.

In my youth I stressed freedom, and in my old age I stress order. I have made the great discovery that liberty is a product of order.

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry.
The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.