[C]ivilization means, above all, an unwillingness to inflict unnecessary pain.
Harold Laski, ‘The Dangers of Obedience’, Harper’s, Vol. 159 (June, 1929)
Tag Archives: civilization
Matt Ridley
Society was not invented by reasoning men. It evolved as part of our nature. It is as much a product of our genes as our bodies are.
Matt Ridley, The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation, London, 1996, p. 6
Henry David Thoreau
It is a mistake to suppose that, in a country where the usual evidences of civilization exist, the condition of a very large body of the inhabitants may not be as degraded as that of savages.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, 1854