Arnold J. Toynbee quotes - page 2

I do not believe that civilizations have to die because civilization is not an organism. It is a product of wills. (Arnold J. Toynbee)
Of the twenty or so civilizations known to modern Western historians, all except our own appear to be dead or moribund, and, when we diagnose each case, in extremis or post mortem, we invariably find that the cause of death has been either War or Class or some combination of the two. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
... the dogma that History is just "one damned thing after another...." View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
Now who are the individuals who are the greatest benefactors of the living generation of mankind? I should say: Confucius and Lao-Tse; the Buddha; the Prophets of Israel and Judah; Zoroaster, Jesus, Muhammad; and Socrates. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
The coming of Buddhism to the West may well prove to be the most important event of the Twentieth Century. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
A life which does not go into action is a failure. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
I can not think of any circumstances in which advertising would not be an evil. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
The aim of all education is, or should be, to teach people to educate themselves. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
Religion holds the solution to all problems of human relationship, whether they are between parents and children or nation and nation. Sooner or later, man has always had to decide whether he worships his own power or the power of God. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
The only real struggle in the history of the world ... is between the vested interest and social justice. (Arnold J. Toynbee)
Immaturity means self-centeredness, inability to compromise, to rise above hurt feelings, to postpone immediate pleasures in favor of future benefits, or to do unpleasant chores when they need to be done. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
Material power that is not counterbalanced by adequate spiritual power, that is, by love and wisdom, is a curse. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
Nothing fails like success when you rely on it too much. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
Human dignity can be achieved only in the field of ethics, and ethical achievement is measured by the degree in which our actions are governed by compassion and love, not by greed and aggressiveness. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
The world's greatest need . . . is mutual confidence. No human being ever knows all the secrets of another's heart. Yet there is enough confidence between mother and child, husband and wife, buyer and seller . . . to make social life a practical possibility. Confidence may be risky, but it is nothing like so risky as mistrust. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
The last stage but one of every civilisation, is characterised by the forced political unification of its constituent parts, into a single greater whole. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
The absolute value of love makes life worth while, and so makes Man's strange and difficult situation acceptable. Love cannot save life from death; but it can fulfill life's purpose. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
Adversity in the things of this world opens the door for spiritual salvation. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
Write regularly, day in and day out, at whatever times of day you find that you write best. Don't wait till you feel that you are in the mood. Write, whether you are feeling inclined to write or not. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
The course of human history consists of a series of encounters between individual human beings and God in which each man and woman or child, in turn, is challenged by God to make his free choice between doing God's will and refusing to do it. (Arnold J. Toynbee)
The penalty of affluence is that it cuts one off from the common lot, common experience, and common fellowship. In a sense it outlaws one automatically from one's birthright of membership in the great human family. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
Love's way of dealing with us is different from conscience's way. Conscience commands; love inspires. What we do out of love, we do because we want to. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee
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. View quote
Arnold J. Toynbee